The Beirut Port Explosion: The Welders (English)

© Forensic Architecture and Febrayer Network 2023

This investigation marks the launch of the Febrayer Network / Forensic Architecture (FFA) Investigative Lab, collaboratively established to employ Forensic Architecture’s methodologies and techniques for monitoring and documenting human rights violations in pursuit of accountability in the Arab world.

[davidci]

The Beirut explosion investigation video you guys made is one of the most detailed and most organized analysis of the disaster by far, and it's good to see you guys are still investigating more of it.

[_C_E_C_]

Let's take a second and assume it WAS the welding work which started the fire:
Why blame the welders actually? They are welders and not chemists. They had no responsability of how the items were stored in the warehouse, and no responsability to clear it either.

It's like accusing the garbage truck driver of spilling cooking oil from the truck, and not the ones that put the cooking oil inside the garbage bin..

It's backwards, and deflective..
Why blame the fire on somebody when not that wasn't the first issue to begin with...
The explosion happened in 2020.. the warehouse was investigated in 2014, and another report of foul storage was also issued in 2015.. so not the 2020 welding works were the issue to begin with.

Amazing analysis as always guys. Keep up the investigations!

[Kiyoone]

01:38 What still infuriates me is that they (the corrupt ones that CAUSED this) are still trying to shift the blame to some workers that have nothing and use them as escape goat

[Redskies]

5:08 fireworks, tyres, ammonium nitrate. It's like they put all the most flammable stuff in one place, it's like a cartoon.

[josephastier]

1:06 Whoever was live-streaming that video could not possibly have survived.

[charlesmadisonrhea]

Excellent presentation! The graphics you created overlayed seamlessly with the photos, enabling us to clearly understand your line of reasoning. Thank you

[idkidk]

I say the welders were victims.. Who ever owns or is in charge of the chemicals and/or warehouse should be to blame.. As well as people at the top that knew it was there but didn't check on it and make sure it was up to standard.

[t]

Excellent video and analysis. One of the root causes was bad government policy and administration. Allowing the storage of 2, 700 tons of explosive materials for several years is a key issue.

[Backyardmech]

I’m not an explosives “expert, ” but upon first viewing, the orange smoke to me said Ammonium Nitrate. The smoke color and the violence of the explosion as a regular citizen with somewhat of a sense of explosions said it was a large delivery of the stuff.
Cargo holding by the country’s customs IMO is to blame for holding fireworks next to bags of an already known explosive in large quantities.
Do I feel bad for the unintended victims, hell yes!
As for the local government, they should’ve held accountable to the fertilizer in their holding facility.

[EvonneLindiwe]

Literally done the work the Lebanese FBI and French reports didn’t do! Thank you 🙏🏿

[yesssirr]

This is an excellently produced and detailed video report on the topic. Really should be one of the first to appear in the YT search. Nice work!!!

[PiedFifer]

Anyone interested in learning how to reason should watch this video and learn the difference between forensic analysis and emotionalism.

[RaymondCore]

I was under the impression that stored fireworks were involved. Great graphics. Government investigations are more about covering for certain people and finding scapegoats to blame. Thank you.

[benargee]

It doesn't really matter who or what caused the fire. This was really a huge mismanagement of extremely explosive material near a major city. Even if the welders were at fault, they can not be blamed for the scale of the outcome. Otherwise, good work or trying to clear their names.

[MrYitzhak]

the fire could have started at 9 like the fbi said, but it got heated and spread heavily upwards, fire is unpredictable, we cant deny that 9 is not the cause if there were no footage.
it could have started there, brought it up north and put off in 9.

[jcs]

Thanks for the update video. I'm curious, in the time since the initial release, I have seen other new video angles that don't appear in part 1 of your investigation analysis video. I would be curious to see an update that includes these new video angles.

[SpamMaster]

You know YouTube has come a long way when you can find investigations in this quality with custom-made visualization tools. It's perfectly reasoned to trust over the noted reports.

[claudethibaudeau]

Incredible analysis. What a huge explosion it was. When I first saw it, I was like at awe of the energy it released. RIP to all those souls which were lost on that tragic day. I was a wrlder for many years and the amount of dangerous places I was in is actually more often than people really realize. I'm glad they were found innocent

[coll]

How dare they blame the welders when what was in that wear house should have never been there

[tp]

Well designed video comparing the animations to source material! Thank you all for that!