(RepublicanNews.org) – An explosion on September 28th in Uzbekistan’s capital of Tashkent is drawing comparisons to the nuclear-like detonation that took place in the Port of Beirut in early August 2020. In the months following the 2020 explosion in Beirut, it was determined that the blast came from improperly stored ammonium nitrate. Locals that were up to 20 miles away from the blast’s epicenter are reported to have heard the explosion.
Officials in the Uzbek capital are saying that lithium-ion car batteries were the main source of fuel for the early-morning fireball, though their method of ignition is unclear. Initial reports suggested that a plane crash had ignited the contents of a customs district warehouse, but authorities later denied those claims and called them “an absolute lie.”
Not long after that, the nation’s interior ministry said that an act of God was behind the events. According to those officials, a lightning strike was responsible for causing a chain reaction. Some have cast doubt on the official narrative and are claiming that an explosion of that magnitude would have required the presence of industrial-grade explosives. Authorities in Tashkent have denied that possibility.
What is known is that the blast was powerful enough to send a mushroom cloud hundreds of feet into the night sky. Windows were simultaneously shattered by the shockwave in surrounding areas. The warehouse in question that was destroyed covered an area of around 32,000 square feet and it took several hours for teams to extinguish the flames.
More than 2,000 first responders were involved in rescue efforts. The blast resulted in over 160 people being injured, dozens of whom ended up in local hospitals. Despite the large number of wounded, only one person is reported to have been killed thus far. That total is expected to rise because an unknown number of people were said to have been present in the warehouse when it first exploded.
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