Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents, and stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germany, and was patented in 1867. It rapidly gained wide-scale use as a more robust alternative to the traditional black powder explosives. It allows the use of nitroglycerine's favorable explosive properties while greatly reducing its risk of accidental detonation.
The 1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the port of Texas City, Texas, United States, located in Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions.
Alexandra Vandernoot is a Belgian actress.
There have been many extremely large explosions, accidental and intentional, caused by modern high explosives, boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions (BLEVEs), older explosives such as gunpowder, volatile petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline, and other chemical reactions. This list contains the largest known examples, sorted by date. An unambiguous ranking in order of severity is not possible; a 1994 study by historian Jay White of 130 large explosions suggested that they need to be ranked by an overall effect of power, quantity, radius, loss of life and property destruction, but concluded that such rankings are difficult to assess.
AZF is a terrorist group based in France. The first record of the group was in Spring 2004. The group is believed to have taken its name from the explosion of the AZF chemical factory in Toulouse in 2001.
Hassan Jandoubi was a French national of Tunisian parents, who died on 21 September 2001, in the AZF chemical factory explosion in Toulouse in south-western France. He was subsequently investigated by French anti-terrorist authorities as the prime suspect in the blast. An official enquiry later determined the blast was accidental, and not a result of Jandoubi's actions.
The 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster was an explosion and fire that claimed many lives and destroyed several square miles of New Jersey factories. It began on March 1, 1924, about 11:15 a.m., when an explosion destroyed a building in Nixon, New Jersey used for processing ammonium nitrate. The explosion touched off fires in surrounding buildings in the Nixon Nitration Works that contained other highly flammable materials. The disaster killed twenty people, destroyed forty buildings, and demolished the "tiny industrial town of Nixon, New Jersey."
The Billingham Manufacturing Plant is a large chemical works based in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, England. In agricultural terms, it is one of the most important factories in Britain.
On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, United States, while emergency services personnel were responding to a fire at the facility. Fifteen people were killed, more than 160 were injured, and more than 150 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Investigators confirmed that ammonium nitrate was the material that exploded. On May 11, 2016, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stated that the fire had been deliberately set. That finding has been disputed.
The Port Neal fertilizer plant explosion occurred on December 13, 1994 in the ammonium nitrate plant at the Terra International, Inc., Port Neal Complex, 16 mi (26 km) south of Sioux City, Iowa, United States. Four workers at the plant were killed by the explosion, and eighteen others were injured. The seven-story building at the seat of the blast was completely destroyed, leaving only a crater, and significant damage was inflicted to the surrounding structures. Four nearby electricity generating stations were disabled by the explosion, and the effects of the blast were felt up to 30 miles away. A high-voltage line running adjacent to the plant and over the Missouri River was damaged, disrupting power in the neighboring state of Nebraska. Two 15,000-ton refrigerated ammonia storage tanks were ruptured, releasing liquid ammonia and ammonia vapors which forced the evacuation of 1,700 residents from the surrounding area.
On 12 August 2015, a series of explosions at the Port of Tianjin in Tianjin, Northern China, killed 173 people, according to official reports, and injured hundreds of others. The explosions occurred at a container storage station in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, China. The first two explosions occurred 33 seconds apart. The second explosion was much larger and involved the detonation of about 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Fires caused by the initial explosions continued to burn uncontrolled throughout the weekend, resulting in eight additional explosions on 15 August.
AZF was the name of a chemical factory in Toulouse, France, which exploded on 21 September 2001. The blast was equivalent to 20-40 tons of TNT, producing an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.4, and was heard 80 km away. The incident resulted in 31 deaths and left 2,500 wounded. Damages paid by insurance companies exceeded 1.5 billion euros.
On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port in Beirut, Lebanon exploded, causing at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, as well as leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless. A cargo of 2,750 tonnes of the substance had been stored in a warehouse without proper safety measures for the previous six years after having been confiscated by Lebanese authorities from the abandoned ship MV Rhosus. A fire in the same warehouse preceded the explosion.
MV Rhosus was a general cargo ship that was abandoned in Beirut, Lebanon, after the ship was declared unseaworthy and the charterers lost interest in the cargo. The 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate which the ship was carrying was confiscated and brought to shore in 2014, and later contributed to the catastrophic 2020 Beirut explosion. The vessel's owner at the time of abandonment was Cyprus-based Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin. The ship sank in the Port of Beirut in 2018.
Fadi Sawan is a Lebanese military investigative judge, who became known after being assigned with the immense task of investigating the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history, the 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that killed more than 200 people, wounded over 6,000 and destroyed much of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on August 4, 2020.
Tarek Bitar is a Lebanese judge and the head of Beirut’s criminal court, who is the second judge to lead the investigation of the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, succeeding Fadi Sawwan who was dismissed by the Lebanese court after charging two former Amal Party ministers over the blast, which was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate negligently stored in the port for over six years. Sawwan's dismissal was objected to by the victims’ families because they feared that it would take the case back to zero. In September 2021, Bitar received a threat by Hezbollah.
The Campus de cancérologie de Toulouse, is a cancer research center with a European dimension. Located south of Toulouse, in the Lafourguette district on the symbolic site of the explosion of the AZF factory in 2001, the campus welcomes private and public actors with the aim of harmonizing their research for the fight against cancer.
On 16 July 2001, an explosion occurred in Mafang Village, Shaanxi, China. At least 89 people died and 98 others were injured in the blast after a villager intentionally ignited explosives. The incident was contemporaneously called the "7.16 bombing" by Chinese media.
