Friday, September 14, 2007

Mexican truck explosion story gets more interesting all the time

When the first reports came out about the Mexican truck explosion on Sunday, Sept. 9, the truck was reported to be carrying "mining explosives." Initially it was said that the blast occurred when the big rig hit another vehicle, leaving 37 dead, scores injured and a crater 65 feet wide in the roadway of northern Mexican highway, about a hundred miles northwest of Laredo, Texas.

Naturally, since it took place on the eve of the first Mexican trucks rolling into the U.S. under a pilot program designed to allow long haul access to the entire lower 48, it was seen as a symbolic and tragic failure of safety regulations, a signature event behind which opponents of allowing Mexican trucks unlimited U.S. access could rally.

But new details are now sharpening our understanding of what took place. They are also raising new mysterious questions.

It seems the truck was not hauling "mining explosives" after all. It was carrying ammonium nitrate, a type of fertilizer. Where have we heard of this stuff before? Oh, yeah! That's what Timothy McVeigh used (combined by necessity with diesel fuel and dynamite) to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. According to Land Line Magazine, a publication for independent long-haul truckers, the truck was not registered to haul explosives. Which it wasn't, officially, since ammonium nitrate is not normally considered an explosive. In fact, ammonium nitrate (AN) doesn't explode all that easily. That's one of the mysteries of this story.

According to the Reuters' account, most of the dead and injured were bystanders who stopped to see the burning truck and were casualties of the explosion that occurred 40 minutes after the initial crash! Reporters, emergency workers, other drivers, killed and maimed. We've heard from several people that this belated explosion points to something odd, perhaps even evil. AN requires a combustive catalyst and a tight enclosure for a big explosion. Otherwise it will spark and fizzle and burn quite convincingly but not go boom. (Do you want to know more?)

Mystery No. 2: The driver of the truck reportedly fled the scene, whereabouts still unknown.

As usual there is the possibility that the explosion occurred for reasons that we do not know, perhaps even legitimate ones.

CONCLUSION No. 1 -- Given the disappearance of the driver, the timing of the event, and the odd explosion that should not have taken place unless the truck had unwisely hauled other dangerous combustibles with the AN, and you have to ask yourself: What is the probability that this is all just one big mistake?

CONCLUSION No. 2 -- Assuming that the explosion happened because mistakes were made by the company and/or the driver(s), electing to haul a combination of volatile and potentially catastrophic elements over the road, you must ask yourself: Do we really want to open our U.S. highways to people who are this ignorant or careless?

It's difficult to conceive of a third conclusion. Whether you buy into the conspiratorial conclusion No.1 or the "innocent negligence" of conclusion No.2, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence on the highways, does it?



1 Comments:

At 10:06 PM, Blogger pcorn54 said...

This story does indeed continue to get interesting and I appreciate your fair and objective post on the subject.

I covered it extensively on my blog with updates as they happened from sources within Mexico as well as family members in Monclova with connections.

http://mexicotrucker.com/archives/725

http://mexicotrucker.com/archives/711

You mentioned OOIDA spinning the story and personally, the credibility of OOIDA with me on this issue is zero!

http://mexicotrucker.com/archives/720

There still remain questions about this accident and at this point, it remains, purely a tragic accident.

The tractor involved, a 2007 International i9400 was carrying a legal load of this chemical. It was not dynamite as various news sources have reported and as OOIDA has continued to press.

You are also correct about the explosive properties of AN. At the moment, all that can be determined is that possibly the fire from the F250 lodged under the trailer weakened the trailer floor, chemicals fell out and missed with the diesel fuel in the trucks tanks which were ruptured and leaking. And we all not what happens when diesel and AN mix, again, as you pointed out.

This wasn't a little fire as you can tell from the photos on my site, but a hot inferno which very well could have caused the explosion with the fuel in the pickup adding to the effect.

Of course, this is all subjective reasoning as they was nothing but parts of the truck remaining.

The shipper, Orica, is one of the largest manufacturers of explosives and explosive compounds in the world with plants in more than 50 companies and headquarters in Australia. There is no evidence nor reason to think there was any shortcuts taken in preparing the load for transport.

You mentioned the driver fled the scene and this is sadly, true, and it is indicative of a problem in Mexico. You see, when a traffic accident occurs, it is a criminal as well as a civil offense. People go to jail, especially when there is a fatality and sit in jail until the case is resolved. And it is not a county lockup either but a regular prison where they will serve the sentence handed down to them, eventually, like in three or four years when the case comes before a Judge. And in Mexico, there is no bail for an offense that carries more than 2 years.

But thanks for reporting this in the manner you did, without the hype and hysteria and conspiracy theories that the loony toons are putting out there.

It was noting more than a tragic accident and the high death count was because of the lookie loos and those trying to help

 

Post a Comment

<< Home