Beachy Head evacuated after ‘unknown chemical haze’ injures up to 50 people.

a reply to: audubon

I don't know how deep the water there is, but it doesn't really matter. Chlorine has a higher density than water. It sinks very, very quickly, even in salt form. If the source was underwater, it would have just mixed in with the water.

If they weren't trying to have "fun" and enjoy life, they would not have needed to be "evacuated". They should've been at home, counting their ammo, or learning how to use it. Why is this even "news" or post worthy?.. And where the F is Beachy Head? Wherever, they don't seem very in tune, to their environment. .... A "chemical haze"! Oh no000oo! Probably woke the neighborhood up. "Beachy Head, can be victomiztoo"?

Whatever this is , I don't like it

originally posted by: murphy22 They should've been at home, counting their ammo, or learning how to use it.

that's not the british way. 'keep calm and carry on' as the posters implore us.

a reply to: MDpvc

Unless it was released in a gaseous form such as when you inadvertently mix the wrong cleaning solutions and can if not careful suffer lung damage from inhaling the gas.

Sea water will absorb it but it depend's how large the reaction was, how concentrated and how far from the shore to take into account dispersal pattern's etc and how long before such a reaction may have actually happened, like any gas in gaseous form Chlorine is actually lighter than water but yes it will be absorbed by the water given enough time, there is no definite proof that this was Chlorine however though the symptom's do fit perfectly well and actually match a few incident's I remember of over chlorination of swimming pool's and drinking water in the 70's and 80's.

It also depend's on the saturation of the Chlorine to sea water, if the water near the surface has reached saturation point then no more will be absorbed until that water has cycled to a lower depth or dissipated a little and if there was a sufficiently large cloud of chlorine produced in said reaction (or release) it still would definitely produce a low lying cloud of noxious chlorine gas on the surface of the water, if reaction IN the water produces too much of the stuff then this Gas would have been released from the water in Gaseous state, both scenario's match apparently what these people experienced.

This could also have been a pure chlorine dump or accidental release, if the latter the captain would likely high tail it away to avoid the incumbent fine on his ship and company, it is a common chemical.
Here is a small piece from stateside on some accident's there, non at sea
www.environmentalhealthnews.org...

Here is the effect of Over Chlorination, a predictable indoor chlorine gas cloud was produced that sent 70 people to hospital.
www.dailymail.co.uk...

GAS PANICPacked tourist hotspot Beachy Head evacuated and almost 250 people taken to hospital after mystery ‘chemical mist’ feared to be chlorine gas blows in from the sea leaving beachgoers with breathing difficulties and burning eyes

Sun's new headline

originally posted by: MDpvc Any reports as to an estimated size, more specifically length?

originally posted by: RoScoLaz5

originally posted by: MDpvc Any reports as to an estimated size, more specifically length?

i haven't spotted anything definitive reported yet, size and spread-wise.

Its about 5km from Birling Gap to Eastbourne , the cloud could be 500ft high , nears cliff tops . It would reach Beachy Head first as its a headland , from the sun article pics looks like a lot of white-ish gas . Warnings to shut windows over 6 mile radius . Obviously its difficult to see at night , if more is coming , they said spreading north & west towards Brighton . Looks a lot of gas from sun pictures .

The US is blaming Siria for droping chemical weapons.

It work't last time!

originally posted by: MDpvc
a reply to: audubon

I don't know how deep the water there is, but it doesn't really matter. Chlorine has a higher density than water. It sinks very, very quickly, even in salt form. If the source was underwater, it would have just mixed in with the water.

Not so. Or at least, the US Department of Transport concluded the opposite in 1970 when it produced an extensive study on the subject of marine transport of solid and gaseous chlorine (PDF).

Page 35 contains the crucial bit. It says that underwater release of chlorine gas would only fail to reach the surface when 'insignificant' amounts of gas were involved.

originally posted by: MDpvc
a reply to: audubon

I don't know how deep the water there is, but it doesn't really matter. Chlorine has a higher density than water. It sinks very, very quickly, even in salt form. If the source was underwater, it would have just mixed in with the water.

I think you are right enough there. Whatever the cause, it seems that something of the Chlorine gas family is the culprit, while the instructions given are atypical of what to do, but probably are a general warning as well, although those people seem to have mentioned the Chlorine bleachy smell.
The other thing is the cloud and where did it come from, all we have heard is that "it came in from the sea" while it was most likely wind driven and might have drifted down the coast just as easily, possibly from the West or Southwest, and the sea breeze affecting it as well. While it should be considered an artificial source, who knows if any conditions were right for it coming from a natural source?

Well the good news today is authorities have declared its not the FRENCH! lol Apparently due to wind direction we can't blame them but due to the size of the cloud they are still baffled as to the cause but are leaning towards something from a shipping tanker although no emergencies have been reported to RNLI or Maritime Authorities as yet

The cloud is now dissipating but this is a picture of the cloud yesterday which shows just how big it was so if it was a sea disaster it must have been quite a big one

originally posted by: PhyllidaDavenport
Probably from all the so called "recycling" they dump at sea!

Video showing a pretty damn big cloud of gas and stoical Brits still sat there on the beach

(gas or no gas if there's a chance of sunshine we'll stick it out!)

I like the people still swimming even, the real champs of the day.



-Alee

Obviously Assad is responsible ...

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

It would be a little detective work but it should be possible to identify which ship's were in that lane that day, not a small job due to the absolutely huge amount of shipping that passes that way but possible - if they jump on it right away.
Then to request a manifest from the port authority's were they were docking or leaving so as to narrow it down to vessel's carrying the requisite chemical's in there cargo, likely a chemical tanker as you say which may also allow it to be narrowed down even further but then identifying the culprit will still require some manner of proof, how much before they think a prosecution is prudent is up them but I suspect a prosecution could still come out of this accident.
Assuming it was an accident.

This chlorine attack was a terrorist attack orchestrated by the EU to drive the UK away from brexit.

a reply to: LABTECH767

The Martime Authorities are working on it at the moment trying to ascertain who is where and as yet no ship has reported any accidents or problems.

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

The vessel responsible could have been from anywhere in the world and going anywhere, it also depend's if the vessel had it's maritime transponder active and if this was an accidental or deliberate dump, likely it was headed to or from a European destination but could have been headed for or from Russia as well, like I alluded in my earlier comment the captain probably high tailed it out of there to avoid the definite fine and potential loss of his license, he could also have been acting illegally deliberately and if so then the Transponder would definitely be off, the ship would wait until no other vessels were close enough to see what they were doing etc, our coast guard these days' are simply not up to scratch especially after that Idiot Cameron cut all our naval funding and that will means also massive problems as we leave Europe since we will simply be unable to prevent illegal fishing and even dumping of toxic chemical's as this may have been in our coastal water's.

These day's though the waters are so busy around the UK that even if the ship did have it's Transponder off which is against the law itself then they would still have been detected by someone though if they were just outside our territorial waters?, it is not yet at air traffic control level but it is getting there, the only reason to dump this would be if the cargo was waste being taken away or if it was no longer wanted at the port of it's destination so those two could also potentially narrow it down.

Still the English Channel is one of the ten busiest shipping lane's in the world regarded as a motorway of the sea, it may be that we will never know whom was responsible for this simply because of the volume of traffic that use it, I doubt they had the spill in the lane itself though and probably either before or after they made the passage as there are simply so many ship's another vessel would likely have noticed and reported them so once outside of or before they entered the bottle neck of the English channel would be the most likely time if this was a deliberate dumping.

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

So beautiful! If it were a German cliff, we (as in overly regulated Germany) would have rails all around them, just to be sure....(glad it aint so).

a reply to: verschickter

Germany has a different kind of Beauty, spectacular mountain's, valley's and forest's, you also have better beer (far better beer).

originally posted by: Flanker86
This chlorine attack was a terrorist attack orchestrated by the EU to drive the UK away from brexit.

the tories are doing a pretty good job of that themselves