Turns out it wasn’t voluntary - an unscrupulous ship owner abandoned their crew, vessel and cargo when the vessel was deemed unseaworthy - they’ve been trying to get rid of it for years.
It’s not the most stable stuff, but with wet nitrate you’ll usually just get a fierce fire, not a detonation - but if a percussive shell from the fireworks landed in it and then detonated, that would be enough to make it go bang.
The natural heat was the killer. IF twitter was right the fire started from sparks from a welding on a door. The AN must have already been decomposing in the heat and under weight just waiting.
I wonder how often this storage facility was at a critical point like this. Like how many hot days. How often before this. It makes you think about all the other risks sitting out there just waiting for a small spark.
That's probably how it's done in your nearest port, as well as anywhere else. With actual storage and fire safety procedures (hopefully) better followed.
Same reason you have ammunition depots in the military and not mixed storage of your howitzer shells with MREs and socks. Partitioning hazardous stuff into dedicated holds with heightened access and fire security is how it's done everywhere.
These are the realities in many parts of the world: safety routines are followed only as much as to obtain the necessary international certification/rating for the site.
Consider this the next time there's discussion about merits of introducing nuclear power globally.
