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| Iraq | |
| Chlorine gas blast kills 6 in Ramadi | |
| 2007-05-01 | |
| RAMADI, Iraq - A tanker laden with chlorine gas exploded near a restaurant west of the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Monday, killing up to six people and wounding 10, police and hospital sources said. The blast took place inside an area that houses restaurants, shops and cafes some 35 km (20 miles) west of Ramadi on a major road. Ali Mohammed al-Hiti, a doctor at the nearby city of Hit, said his hospital had received six bodies and 10 sick people suffering from burns and breathing problems caused by the chlorine. A police source in Ramadi said the blast killed four people and wounded six. Insurgents have increasingly used chlorine gas bombs, mostly in the western province of Anbar. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar. The effects of the gas have sickened hundreds of people.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #14 Where are they getting the tankers of chlorine? It's used extensively in petrochemistry. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-05-01 18:30 |
| #13 Newer water plants and even older plants are upgrading to Miox or Chlortec units, which generate the necessary hypochlorite disinfetant by electrolysis of salt brine solutions. The resultant solution is about 0.5% free hypochlorite. Chlorine gas is nasty stuff. Break the valve off the top of a cylinder and you are in deep doo doo, although you will be sanitized. The sooner you get the gaseous chlorine out of the area, any area, the safer you are. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-05-01 14:46 |
| #12 They need tighter controls on it. |
| Posted by: Hank 2007-05-01 14:39 |
| #11 Chlorine in Iraq is used to purify water. Since there few large sources of clean water, many places do their own purification. This results in lots of truck carrying chlorine for legit reasons. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-05-01 12:23 |
| #10 If I wanted to to buy a tanker of chlorine, what do you think my chances are? In a civilized nation? You'd probably face all sorts of paper work and, in the end, the transport would be handled by people trained and licensed to do it safely. In a Third World country? Particularly in a Muslim country? A little baksheesh and the right contacts, and you're golden. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-05-01 12:11 |
| #9 3dc: that is often refered in systems admin as "a silicon based solution to a carbon pased problem" any enhanced security measure can and will be circumvented. this is first and formost a carbon based problem. eradicate those who would steal the trucks, and then we dont have to worry about the trucks beng stolen or having to solve the next delima when they adapt to having to disable a lojac system. |
| Posted by: Abu do you love 2007-05-01 11:47 |
| #8 So require chlorine trailers to have working Lojac's or they are not permitted entry into Iraq. Track them... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-05-01 11:29 |
| #7 3dc: i doubt that they are buying the stuff. rather more likely the tankers are heisted as they cross into the area or supplied by freindlies in neighboring countries. |
| Posted by: Abu do you love 2007-05-01 11:12 |
| #6 Chuck - common is one thing. If I wanted to to buy a tanker of chlorine, what do you think my chances are? It would start with a quiz about my reasons and flags would slowly build up. So... no BATF no DEA no regulations at all - nothing. Look here in Illinois if I want to buy an over the counter thing like a styptic pencil or some allergy meds its behind the counter because some folk make nasty stuff with those things... An amino-acid (a building block of life) even got outlawed after a questionable death in Japan for the real reason that some chemist had figured out an easy way to make LSD out of l-tryptophan and CLOROX. If that can happen in the US why can folks get hold of chlorine tanker trucks in Iraq without batting an eye and no trace? Iraq really needs some NANNY-STATE memes. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-05-01 10:41 |
| #5 and morons who will use it to kill their own people are common in arab countries. |
| Posted by: Senate treo 2007-05-01 10:25 |
| #4 Chlorine is common in industrialized nations. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2007-05-01 10:01 |
| #3 The local tribes are trying to toss the beturbanned invaders, so the beturbanned invaders have declared them apostates. |
| Posted by: Fred 2007-05-01 08:32 |
| #2 Ramadi is a Sunni town. These idiots are attacking their own support base. They'll go the same way as the Algerian jihadists. |
| Posted by: Apostate 2007-05-01 02:04 |
| #1 Where are they getting the tankers of chlorine? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-05-01 00:42 |