Mystery surrounds ac explosions
10th May 2015
ASIA: Mystery surrounds a spate of fatal air-conditioning “explosions’ in South and South East Asia in recent days.
Following Cooling Post reports of the deaths of two workers carrying out repairs on air conditioners at a hotel in Cambodia on Sunday May 3, reports reach us from neighbouring Vietnam of one death and two serious injuries from an explosion at an air conditioning repair shop three days later in Thu Dau Mot City.
Reports from this more recent incident on May 6 are confused but locals report a loud explosion. There is no definitive indication as to any link between this incident and the “explosion”. The victims in Cambodia were said to have suffered serious burns, something not mentioned in the Vietnam incident.
However, a day later on Thursday May 7 in Bangladesh, another “explosion” involving an air conditioner in the city of Dhaka resulted in the death of one engineer and serious burns to another. One worker at the air conditioning workshop in the Kazipara area of the city died in hospital on Friday morning after sustaining 80% burns in what has been described as “an air conditioner gas cylinder explosion”. The dead man’s colleague who was helping him with the air conditioner at the time sustained 25% burns. Another engineer in the workshop told Thereport24.com that “the gas cylinder suddenly burst into flames with a bang” while the two victims were working on it.
A little over two weeks earlier up to five workers (some reports say four, some say five) were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with 7%-30% burns after another air conditioner was said to have exploded in the Moghbazar area of the city. The incident on April 20 was said to have occurred while an air conditioning compressor was being brazed.
The Cooling Post is aware of other similar, sometimes fatal, incidents – some in China . Many reports are confused and, sometimes, contradictory and is is unclear whether there is any causal link between the incidents.
Related stories:
Two die in reported ac explosion – May 4, 2015
CAMBODIA: Two ac engineers are said to have been killed after an air conditioner they were fixing reportedly exploded. Read more…
