Washington [US], May 24: Business Insider reported on May 22 that US officials were investigating the case that a shipment of 30 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used to make fertilizers and explosives, disappeared while being shipped to California.
Specifically, the train carrying the above chemicals, owned by the Dyno Nobel explosives company, has left Ho Chi Minh City. Cheyenne (Wyoming) April 12. However, just two weeks later, when he arrived at a stop in the Mojave Desert, the inside of the carriage was suddenly empty.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ammonium nitrate is used as agricultural fertilizer, to manufacture first aid products such as cold packs and explosives for the mining and construction industries. It was also the same explosive used in the 1995 Oklahoma State bombing, which killed 168 people and was at the time the deadliest terrorist attack in US history.
Representatives of Dyno Nobel said that they think the chemical in the form of pellets fell out during transportation. A spokesman for Dyno Nobel told KQED radio that the carriage was sealed when it left the Cheyenne plant, so chemicals were likely to have entered the openings and fell onto the road while it was in transit.
Union Pacific, which ships the carriages, told Business Insider that it is in the "early stages" of an investigation into the lost cargo. According to a Union Pacific spokesperson, the fertilizer is designed to be applied on the ground and quickly absorbed by the soil, and will not pose a risk to public health or the environment.
"At this point in the investigation, we do not believe there is any criminal or malicious activity involved," a Union Pacific spokesperson added.
According to Dyno Nobel, they had "limited control" over the carriage while it was in transit and it is currently being returned to Wyoming for inspection.
The National Fire Protection Association says that because ammonium nitrate can speed fires and explosions, it can pose a "significant explosion threat" if the right catalyst is met.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper
