Jakarta, TheIndonesiaPost – “His name is Ni Negah Erawati. He works at a spa in Kimantra, Jal El Din, “said Indonesian Ambassador to Lebanon, Hajriyanto Y Thohari, quoted from CNNIndonesia.com while explaining the condition of Ni Negah survived despite injuries.
Ni Negah Erawati is one of the women from Indonesia who has so far been confirmed to have been affected by an explosion that occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday (4/8) at exactly 18.07 local time.
The Lebanese Red Cross reports that up to now the death toll from the explosion has reached more than 100 people and more than 4,000 injured.
The explosion was so great. Beirut, which used to be one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, is now full of debris. Buildings, houses and offices in the city nicknamed Paris in the Middle East were devastated. Some residents of around 2.1 million people lost their homes.
As reported by The Guardian, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said the cause of the explosion came from warehouses holding 2,750 tons of high-explosive ammonium nitrate. The chemicals have been stored in warehouses for the past six years.
The Lebanese head of public security said the explosives were confiscated years ago from a ship.
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound, which is a nitrate salt of the ammonium cation. This compound has the chemical formula NH₄NO₃, simplified to N₂H₄O₃. This compound is a white crystalline solid and is very soluble in water. This compound is mainly used in agriculture as a nitrogen-rich fertilizer.
This compound is relatively stable in most conditions and is cheap to produce. That makes it a popular alternative chemical to other expensive nitrogen sources. However there are conditions that can trigger an explosion of ammonium nitrate, as mixed with other chemicals such as oil.
“If you see that the smoke coming from the explosion is this blood red color because of the air pollutants of nitrogen oxides in it,” da Silva said.
Ammonium nitrate itself is a chemical compound that is often included in explosive mixture components used in mining construction, excavation, and civil construction.
In Indonesia, ammonium nitrate is a chemical whose import is regulated by prohibition or restriction in accordance with Minister of Trade Regulation Number 230 / MPP / KEP / 7/1997.
Now Lebanon is facing an economic slump. Not only the threat of falling into recession due to the co-19 pandemic, but also due to the heavy explosion last Wednesday (Indonesian time).
Besides Lebanon, there is also air bag company Takata which is destitute because of ammonium nitrate. In 2017 Takata declared bankruptcy in the US and Japan. In 2018 the name Takata was changed to Joyson Safety System after the assets were bought by a US-based company, the Key Safety System.
Previously this one bag of air producers using compounds with the formula N2H4O3. In 2013 Takata began stating the recall of ammonium nitrate airbags, and to date this problem has involved 19 brands and more than 59 million vehicles worldwide including Indonesia.
There are so many types of cars that are pulled out because of this air bag problem. However, several manufacturers involved recall Takata including Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, General Motors, Subaru, Ford, Chrysler, and BMW.
Consumerreports.org last year explained the Takata airbag problem had killed 24 people worldwide.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States states that the source of the Takata recall airbag problem is the use of ammonium nitrate without drying chemicals.
Humidity, high temperature, and the age of damage-related components are said to make airbags inflate imperfectly, even said to be able to catapult components such as shrapnel to injure passengers.
Citing theatlantic, Takata changed the main ingredient of airbags, tetrazole, to ammonium nitrate in 2001. Takata called the new material ‘safe and effective’ for use in airbag inflators when properly manufactured.
But the facts do not happen that way. Ammonium nitrate can expand rapidly as a gas without exploding, besides that the chemical compound can also explode violently.
“And it is not regulated at all as an [airbag] thrower,” said Byron Bloch, a car design consultant and longtime advisor for automotive safety technology followed by Consumerreports.org.
There are allegations that Takata chose ammonium nitrate because it was cheap. This is known based on the narrative of former Takata employees.
Hopefully the car we drive today doesn’t use this type of chemical air bag. If not, we might become destitute because of ammonium nitrate. (jekk/bbs)
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