Gas Cylinder Blast: 2 balloon vendors killed

Two balloon vendors were killed and two others injured when a gas cylinder exploded in the capital's Jatrabari area yesterday.

The dead are Jhunu, 20, and Saiful, 18, from Habiganj. The injured -- Waliullah, 16, and Ekam Hossain, 14, -- are also from the same district, said Anisur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Jatrabari Police Station.

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The OC added that the explosion took place inside a tin-shed room.

Abdul Hannan, an official of the Department of Explosives, after visiting the spot, said, “The cylinder was old, rusty and had no history of safety tests or any device attached to indicate the pressure inside.”

He added that his department, which authorises the procurement and use of all kinds of gas cylinders, had no idea from where the cylinder was bought.

“It seemed that the victims attempted to create Hydrogen gas inside the cylinder through an exothermic reaction between caustic and aluminium. The cylinder exploded due to excessive gas produced from the reaction,” Hannan told The Daily Star.

Such explosions, which often cause fatalities, are all too common across the country, the official added.

“While the Department of Explosives regulates the sales and use of gas cylinders, law enforcement agencies should check unauthorised and risky use of gas cylinders,” he said.

Witnesses and neighbours said a man named Anisur Rahman, aged about 50, had been running a business of gas balloons from his rented tin-shed room for the last three years.

Kulsum, a tenant of a tin-shed room there, said she heard a loud bang around 10:45am and saw a cloud of dust all over the place.

“After the dust cleared, I saw Anisur's room and two adjacent rooms were badly damaged. Parts of human body and the cylinder had flown in all directions in the neighbourhood,” she said.

Kulsum added that Anisur ran his business with his son Waliullah and other staff who sold inflated balloons on the streets.

Police said Anisur was not in the room at the time of the explosion and that he had fled.

On October 1 last year, a balloon vendor was killed while inflating balloons on Road 25/A at the capital's Banani.

At a Victory Day programme in Khagrachhari town last year, five people, including two policemen, suffered burns as a gas cylinder exploded when a vendor was inflating balloons.