Dhaka – Two people were killed and two others injured as a gas cylinder went loose in Jatrabari area of capital Dhaka on Sunday. The dead were identified as balloon vendors. The dead, Jhunu, 20, and Saiful, 18, hail from Habiganj. The injured, Waliullah, 16, and Ekam Hossain, 14, are from the same district, police said. The explosion occured inside a tin-shed room.
Explosives experts believe the victims tried to create Hydrogen gas inside the cylinder by mixing caustic soda and aluminium. The cylinder exploded possibly due to production of excessive gas.
The cylinder was old, rusted and had no device attached to indicate the gas pressure inside, they said.
Such explosions occured in the capital also in the past causing fatalities. In most of those incidents the cause of explosion was said to be excesive gas storage inside cylinders.
Anisur Rahman, aged about 50, had been running a business of gas balloons from a rented tin-shed about three years. The explosion was heard at around 10:45am and two adjacent rooms were badly damaged. Parts of human body and the cylinder had flown in all directions in the neighbourhood, witnesses said.
Last year, a balloon vendor was killed while he was inflating balloons in the Banani area of the capital. In another explosion in Khagrachhari five people, including two policemen, suffered burn injuries. News Desk
