Special Inspection Team says no Ammonium Nitrate threat to Vizag

The explosive blast that occurred in the port city of Beirut, Lebanon this week took the world by shock. The massive disaster forced governments around the world to take stock of the explosive chemicals present within their vicinity that could pose grave and potential threat to citizens. Concerns were therefore raised on the Ammonium Nitrate reserves stored in Vizag.

Visakhapatnam District Collector V Vinay Chand thereby ordered for an inspection to address the concerns raised. A special inspection team, consisting of an Inspector from the Department of Factories and an Environmental Engineer from AP Pollution Control Board, inspected the Sravan Shipping Services Private Limited warehouse at Mindi on Friday.

As per information given by the special inspection team, it has been revealed that Vizag currently has 18,500 metric tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate reserves. The team revealed that the potentially explosive chemical compound was imported from abroad and is stored at a warehouse here. The chemical is then transferred to various agencies where it is used. The inspection team further revealed that there are no agencies in Andhra Pradesh making use of the chemical, thereby mitigating the risk posed by it. The team stated that the chemical is dangerous only when it is stored at a temperature above 270 degrees Celsius. However, the team deemed that another round of inspection will be conducted by the Disaster Management team, and appropriate safety measures to prevent any fire accidents will be taken at the warehouse more strictly in the near future.

Earlier this week, at least 100 people were killed and nearly 4,000 were injured in a massive explosion at Lebanon’s capital city Beirut. According to information released by the Lebanese government, over 2700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was seized and stored for six years in a warehouse situated at the port.