Phuket Truck Accident: 45 Gas Cylinders Hit The Road

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Phuket truck accident: 45 gas cylinders hit the road

The delivery truck spilled its entire load of 45 large gas

cylinders onto Thepkrasattri Road this morning.

Inset: An Andaman Gas worker cleans up the mess.

A Thepkrasattri Municipality firefighter douses the

recovered cylinders as a precaution.

PHUKET: -- A tire blowout on a delivery truck left Phuket’s central artery strewn with 45 filled gas cylinders this morning. Fortunately none of the vessels exploded and there were no serious injuries.

The accident occurred at around 9am on Thepkrasattri Road southbound in Mai Khao, near the entrance to Blue Canyon Country Club.

By 9:30am local police, firefighters and rescue workers were already at the scene, where the delivery truck spun 180 degrees and came to a stop facing oncoming traffic.

Although none of the cylinders exploded during the accident, Thepkrasattri Municipality firefighters doused the metal tubes with water as a precaution while Thalang Police directed traffic.

The truck belonged to the Andaman Gas Company, based over the Sarasin Bridge in Phang Nga. It was delivering the cylinders to restaurants in Phuket at the time of the blowout.

The sudden puncture of the left back tire caused a high-speed spin that sent the tanks flying in all directions from the vehicle bed onto the road.

Workers from the company arrived at the scene in another truck to collect and inspect the cylinders, only one of which was found to be leaking. The clean-up operation was complete and the road reopened to traffic by 10am.

Andaman Gas worker Anusak Suansri told the Gazette the tanks each contained 48 kilograms of compressed gas, for a total weight of 90 kilograms each.

Fortunately traffic was light at the time and no other vehicles ran into the cylinders.

The truck driver and a co-worker in the vehicle at the time were taken to Thalang Hospital for examination. Bruises were the only apparent injuries.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-10-28

[Thaddeus]

Have any of these cylinders ever been known to explode from contact alone?

[OzMick]

Uh-huh. another explosive potential to kill hundreds, sitting loose in the back of a truck. An accident reveals that the load is not properly secured, and the result - mai pen rai.

[Thaddeus]

Uh-huh. another explosive potential to kill hundreds.

Doubtful.

From Propane101

Cylinder explosion videos can easily be found browsing the internet. A search on a video website for propane explosions will normally yield numerous results. Most all of these videos share a common theme, the propane cylinders are placed on a fire or source of extreme heat. Many of these propane cylinders explode after being shot at while on a fire (fire reduces the integrity of steel propane containers). Some videos are filmed by amateurs while others are staged and controlled explosions produced by professionals but the common catalyst for causing a propane cylinder explosion is fire and extreme heat.

You are more likely to suffer broken bones from a unsecured load of gas cylinders than get caught in an explosion.

[Valentine]

Uh-huh. another explosive potential to kill hundreds.

Doubtful.

From Propane101

Cylinder explosion videos can easily be found browsing the internet. A search on a video website for propane explosions will normally yield numerous results. Most all of these videos share a common theme, the propane cylinders are placed on a fire or source of extreme heat. Many of these propane cylinders explode after being shot at while on a fire (fire reduces the integrity of steel propane containers). Some videos are filmed by amateurs while others are staged and controlled explosions produced by professionals but the common catalyst for causing a propane cylinder explosion is fire and extreme heat.

You are more likely to suffer broken bones from a unsecured load of gas cylinders than get caught in an explosion.

A long time ago a tanker rolled over just outside Phuket. Many bystanders came to gawk. Someone lit a cigarette & about 100 people died in the resulting explosion.

[Thaddeus]

A long time ago a tanker rolled over just outside Phuket. Many bystanders came to gawk. Someone lit a cigarette & about 100 people died in the resulting explosion.

Did you experience that personally, or is it another bar stool story?