Barges explode near Australian shipyard in Alabama

Barges explode near Australian shipyard in Alabama

www.abc.net.au

At least two fuel barges have exploded on Alabama's Mobile River near an Australian-owned shipyard, injuring three people.

The Mobile fire and rescue department said on its Twitter feed that two barges carrying natural gas exploded on the east side of the river.

The department says there have been four subsequent explosions and it plans to let the barges burn because the situation is "too unstable".

Parts of Austal, an Australian-owned shipyard on the Mobile river, have been evacuated.

Austal is a defence shipyard which fabricates boats for the US Navy.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
rt.com
www.news. com.au

Unsure where to put this one as the story is from MSM and I'm not sure what constitutes "alternative" news on ats...

Other reports (links below) describe four explosions going off and say they were "massive". They also have videos and tweets from eyewitnesses. Apparently the cause is not yet known but given the barges were carrying natural gas, the cause is most likely some kind of chemical reaction. It's a bit too much like what happened at the fertiliser plant in Waco, just fewer casualties and destruction.

As it was an near an Australian defence shipyard and given the current run of things that are going BOOM in the US right now, I thought it was worthy of your attention. I, however, am not, at this stage, taking it personally...

ETA:

Local Coast Guard units have told the press that the barges contain gasoline and were undergoing gas free operations at Oil Recovery Company of Alabama‘s docks adjacent to Austal.

gcaptain.com...

www.abc.net.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

One Alabama resident told ABC News Online she felt the explosions from her house, some 48 kilometres away.

www.abc.net.au...

Wow thats some explosion! if true to be felt at that distance.

They are saying 3 people critical.

I`m finding it hard to imagine anyone could survive that who was relatively close.

Its been 30 minutes since the last post and the thread has slid down the page.

I guess the Americans stopped reading when they got to "Australia" and didn`t get to Alabama in the thread title.

Such is life on ATS most of the time.

Originally posted by Archie
Unsure where to put this one as the story is from MSM and I'm not sure what constitutes "alternative" news on ats...


www.abc.net.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 25-4-2013 by Archie because: Add link

I'm also unsure of the rules but I personally welcome any news like this to be posted, I assume if it
doesn't attract interest it will just be buried anyhow.
Star and flagged.

Hey man this has been posted 10 times already today

i would give you the link but i dont understand how you didn't see one already since its everywhere

Originally posted by WanderingThe3rd
Hey man this has been posted 10 times already today

i would give you the link but i dont understand how you didn't see one already since its everywhere

Everywhere?

This is the only thread on the topic on the whole first page.

ETA
here`s the Breaking news forum..www.abovetopsecret.com... ,nothing in there.

Cough up the ten links you say are already posted thanx in advance,I`m interested in the conversations on the topic.

Found one... www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by gps777
Its been 30 minutes since the last post and the thread has slid down the page.

I guess the Americans stopped reading when they got to "Australia" and didn`t get to Alabama in the thread title.

Such is life on ATS most of the time.

yeah I notice that with some people in America too.

Fuel barges explode, causing large fire in Ala.

xfinity.comcast.net...

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A large fire that began with explosions aboard two fuel barges in Mobile, Ala., was rocked by a seventh explosion early Thursday and fire officials said they planned to let the fire, which has injured three, burn overnight.

Firefighters from Mobile and U.S. Coast Guard officials responded after 8:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday to a pair of explosions involving the gas barges in an area of the Mobile River east of downtown, authorities said.

As they were responding, a third explosion occurred around 9:30 p.m., Mobile Fire and Rescue spokesman Steve Huffman wrote in an email to The Associated Press. Additional explosions followed over the next few hours.

The Coast Guard said early Thursday that a one-nautical-mile safety zone had been established around one barge, which it said was "at the dock for cleaning."

read more at:xfinity.comcast.net...

I find the particulars of the explosion captured in the video, to be very interesting. Yes of course the intensity of the light, and the sound are impressive, but did anyone else find the length of the blast interesting? Unlike many of the chemical explosions I have seen, this was not just one massive detonation, or a series of the same, but seemed to be sustained, like a gigantic bunsen burner got set off.

It reminds me of the sort of thing that happens when an industrial fuel line gets punctured, and there is ignition, the fuel burns intensely and quickly, but the fire doesnt get as far as the line itself, being busy with burning the fuel that is being ejected at pressure from the pipes, but not fast enought to create a traditional pressure wave.

An example of a pressure wave creating explosion:

www.youtube.com...

In the example that I have linked to (the Destroyed In Seconds coverage of the PEPCON explosion) , the chemicals at the plant are clearly well aflame, but the heat and pressure in the storage tanks builds to critical levels, at which point vast volumes of rocket fuel explode, sending out a massive shockwave which wrecks everything in the vicinity, plant buildings, the lot ,in pretty much an instant.

Now, in the video of the fuel barge "explosion" you see that the fuel is combusting, but the speed of its burn makes me think that the fuel is being fed to the flame at a more controlled pace, otherwise the storage medium in which it was contained would have gone up all of a piece, sending bits of fragmented metal and so on, careening off into the dark distance of the night, and creating a pressure wave that probably would have cracked the barge in two and sent it to the murky depths beneath. As it is, there is no pressure wave, just an awfully long, sustained roar. There is no bright momentary blast, but a lengthy burn.

disrupted a sea trial of a locally built warship on Friday

topics.al.com...

Looks like an exercise, probably the barge story is disclosure concerning the military complex sequester.
Wonder what kind of barge they use to fuel the gas turbine powered LTC ship?

Hello ATSers,
I live here and the explosion is being reported on all the local news channels.

Very important note:
It was a gasoline; not natural gas. The confusion is easy to understand as it was raw gasoline (no additives yet) and some have called that "natural" gas. Most are confusing that with the natural gas we cook and heat our water with.

They are saying that the barge was empty and being cleaned. As we all know an empty gasoline container is far more dangerous than a full one. Early speculation is it was static electricty that set off the gasoline fumes inside the barge.

It is being reported that three workers are in critical condition in the local burn center. One was blown into the water but quickly rescued.

A few local links:
www.fox10tv.com...
www.wkrg.com...
www.local15tv.com...

That's all I know about it so far.

Have a good day !
Ridin2live

Interesting: 2 Fuel Barges exploded in Alabama

3 also were reported injured

www.fox10tv.com...

reply to post by coyotepoet


too close to the defence base imo... very sus

Originally posted by amraks

Originally posted by gps777
Its been 30 minutes since the last post and the thread has slid down the page.

I guess the Americans stopped reading when they got to "Australia" and didn`t get to Alabama in the thread title.

Such is life on ATS most of the time.

yeah I notice that with some people in America too.

maybe because it doesn't get people pissed off about the American government...now those threads go on and on. this is normal thread traffic, or what used to be normal.
the hot topics that will get you stars are....bashing Obama, bashing democrats, bashing the Federal reserve, bashing socialism, NWO, bashing anything the federal government does.

That's taking the expression 'thunder from down under' to a whole new extreme. Hope all that are injured are ok and make a full recovery.

Originally posted by amraks

Originally posted by gps777
Its been 30 minutes since the last post and the thread has slid down the page.

I guess the Americans stopped reading when they got to "Australia" and didn`t get to Alabama in the thread title.

Such is life on ATS most of the time.

yeah I notice that with some people in America too.

Heaven forbid! We are most concerned with all the BS happening to the US (despite that this is a US location).

I read all to often on this site about people complaining that it is so US dominated. Like it is the US citizens fault that we have more folks online than other nations do. HELLOOO....this is a US based website.

More on topic: any news on the cause? Being in the middle of the Cline Shale, I don't like seeking anything threatening the perceived safety of natural gas.

Defence Contractors. All this as Australia celebrates ANZAC Day.The anniversary of Australia's largest and most famous millitary campaign , go figure ?

The only reason "Australian" gets such prominence in the thread title is the source is from Australia, this ABC being the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The Associated Press report makes no mention of the shipyard, though it does mention the Carnival Cruise Lines ship docked across the way that was in the news a while back for having suffered a breakdown and stranding its passengers at sea for a few days

All these oil spills and pipeline ruptures... I am beginning to wonder if it could be some sort of eco terrorism.