[kellyhound]

India. A worker, identified as A.P (43) had traveled over 1,500 kilometers just 3 days prior to look for work which he found at a warehouse that stores chemicals/solvents.

The blast occurred outdoors in an open yard. Investigators believe the blast was triggered either by rough handling as the victim sorted the boxes, or an accidental chemical reaction caused by improper disposal and extreme heat.

The warehouse management was storing dangerous industrial chemicals (suspected to be paint thinners and chemical solvents) in an open residential-adjacent area without any municipal licensing, permits or safety protocols. (What's new)

The explosion occurred while he was handling and sorting the plastic boxes containing these volatile liquids. The heat combined with friction or rough handling caused the container to catastrophically explode.

The blast was so violent that the victim's remains were thrown several meters across the yard.

The warehouse owner has been booked under criminal negligence laws for unsafe operations.

If investigators prove the owner had clear knowledge that storing highly volatile chemical solvents in an open yard could cause a fatal accident, the police can escalate the charge penalty up to 10 years or even life imprisonment.

[CatBatMan]

So all the things that smell really good are stored in a place that smells really bad. This angers them and they sound off about it sometimes.

[rohmell]

In the interest of public safety, please post the names of the chemicals, so that the public can be made aware of the dangers of storing said chemicals close to one another.

[tbone79]

Ala-KAZAAM!!!!!!

He made himself disappear

[docfr8]

Solvents didn't solve the problem

[Mr.NoCredit]

Chemical explosion. Not something I’d care to be any part of or near to.

[spycosis]

Originally Posted by rohmell ↗

In the interest of public safety, please post the names of the chemicals, so that the public can be made aware of the dangers of storing said chemicals close to one another.

I'm just going to have a stab in the dark, but going off the info I'm guessing diethyl ether in one container and methyl ethyl ketone in another. The diethyl ether when exposed to air and sunlight will oxidise and form oxidising compounds like 1-ethoxyethylhydroperoxide. If this comes into contact with an extremely flammable vapour from MEK or similar substance it will explode.

There are tons of other candidates for causing similar types of explosion, but I named the 2 above because they are fairly common in paint and ink production, so the chances of their empty containers ending up stored next to each other by a stupid company with no safety protocols are quite high.

I'm pretty sure that was just residual vapour and the dregs that exploded in the containers as it was a fairly small explosion for those kind of substances. Any decent amount would have done a shit ton more damage than that.

[kbt3168]

So am I seeing him getting clotheslined in the background? Was he hung out to dry?

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by spycosis ↗

I'm just going to have a stab in the dark, but going off the info I'm guessing diethyl ether in one container and methyl ethyl ketone in another. The diethyl ether when exposed to air and sunlight will oxidise and form oxidising compounds like 1-ethoxyethylhydroperoxide. If this comes into contact with an extremely flammable vapour from MEK or similar substance it will explode.

There are tons of other candidates for causing similar types of explosion, but I named the 2 above because they are fairly common in paint and ink production, so the chances of their empty containers ending up stored next to each other by a stupid company with no safety protocols are quite high.

I'm pretty sure that was just residual vapour and the dregs that exploded in the containers as it was a fairly small explosion for those kind of substances. Any decent amount would have done a shit ton more damage than that.

Toluene and xylene containers to form the vapor cloud fuel in the heat outside and styrene solvent with a chemical inhibitor to keep it stable which reacted to the heat, causing a runaway polymerization reaction acting like a sort of pressure cooker that exploded next to those solvents.


Methyl ethyl retone peroxide is a powerful catalyst (hardener) and an oxidizer. Regulations state it must be kept in a separate, climate-controlled building far away from flammable solvents.

The management completely ignored this and piled the separate boxes of MEKP directly adjacent to the solvent drums.

When the MEKP next to them reached its critical breakdown temperature and was triggered by the worker handling the boxes, it didn't just explode on its own.

The initial MEKP pop instantly breached the nearby styrene containers, which were already under high pressure and boiling from the heat.

This physical rupture immediately atomized the pressurized liquid styrene into a fine mist. The blast wave simultaneously ignited the heavy, invisible blanket of toluene and xylene vapors that had settled across the open yard. (The perfect Indian storm)

The initial trigger (the MEKP container) was equivalent to roughly 3.5 to 4.5 pounds of TNT which is roughly 7 to 9 sticks.

The entire explosion/thermobaric blast was equivalent to roughly 2,000 sticks of pure TNT because the shockwave physically pulverized the liquids into millions of microscopic droplets suspended in the air meaning the entire fuel source could burn all at the exact same millisecond. This instantly released a massive amount of energy.

you can compare it to a 1,000-pound aircraft bomb like the Mark 83 general-purpose bomb, a Scalp/Storm Shadow missile or a standard tomahawk missile.

[spycosis]

Cheers for the info kellyhound That's a massive explosion!! I didn't realize it was that big