Instead the catastrophe in Texas City was caused by the same material that apparently triggered a massive explosion in Beirut earlier this week: ammonium nitrate.

The explosion in Beirut is far from the first time something disastrous has happened as a result of ammonium nitrate being stored improperly.

Explosions in Texas City, West, Texas and Oklahoma City were caused by ammonium nitrate -- the same product believed to have blown up in Beirut Tuesday.

Explosions in Texas City, West, Texas and Oklahoma City were caused by ammonium nitrate -- the same product believed to have blown up in Beirut Tuesday.

Ammonium nitrate was involved in the 1947 Texas City disaster, one of the largest industrial explosions in history. But the chemical has a more nefarious use -- as an explosive.

Bill Minutaglio, author of 'City on Fire,' discusses the 1947 explosion in Texas City of a ship full of ammonium nitrate that killed hundreds and left thousands wounded.

A store of ammonium nitrate has been determined as the source of the explosion at a Central Texas fertilizer plant that left 14 dead and hundreds more injured.

Lebanon's government has blamed a large quantity of poorly stored ammonium nitrate for the huge blast that rocked its capital, Beirut, killing scores of people and devastating swathes of the city ...

The explosion at a Central Texas fertilizer plant Wednesday night could have been caused by ammonia gas or the more well-known explosive, ammonium nitrate, according to chemists.

Ammonium nitrate%2C NH4NO3%2C was also the explosive in the 1995 terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City. Among the nearly 600 dead were 27 members of the Texas City volunteer fire department .

1947 - Texas City Disaster - The force of the SS Grandcamp explosion, coupled with flying debris produced by the blast, left this scene of destruction. A surge of water - a tidal wave - pushed ...