[DanteAntonelli]

Originally Posted by rhubarb_king ↗

Vapor mixed well with O2, and a spark.
Chemistry 101.

A Ph. D. in Chemistry is not strictly required to understand this, your regular auto mechanic knows an air and fuel mixture is needed for an explosion to occur inside engine cylinders.

[Padraig Flaherty]

One little spark (even static electricity), and those fumes....

[William May]

Originally Posted by DanteAntonelli ↗

The explosion blew the lid off at such a high speed that the low frame rate of the surveillance camera was unable to record the moment it hit him in the face, regardless, the shockwave impact would probably had been enough to cause a lethal concussion, he would have died anyway.

and if it hadn't been THAT lid, it probably would have been the NEXT one. He had 400 drums to open that day.

[jintsy]

He barrely got his face blown off

[Spiffyfable]

Exit Stage Left

[Stick892]

He remembered to put his safety glasses on!

[bjol]

Owie

[niknik]

Originally Posted by DanteAntonelli ↗

The explosion blew the lid off at such a high speed that the low frame rate of the surveillance camera was unable to record the moment it hit him in the face, regardless, the shockwave impact would probably had been enough to cause a lethal concussion, he would have died anyway.

Pretty sure it was the blast, maybe hitting his head afterwards and inhaling the fumes that were on fire all combined.

But I agree with the comment, I don't think anything struck the guy. Even if the cap blew off too fast to be captured in a frame, it would have knocked his head backwards. The guy literally doesn't even move until he's blasted backwards.

[Heavy]

Anyone who has lit a torch knows this is a bad idea

[scorpion9]

Originally Posted by minka1 ↗

What was it that killed him? The blast itself knocking into his chest? What caused his head to fly back too? Nothing touches his face/head that I can make out in the vids.

I looked at the footage frame by frame, and looks like the whole barrel hit him in the face...just just the lid or the tool in his hand. You can see 1 fame before he flies backwards that the barrel pops up from the ground...towards his face. Next frame, the barrel is deflected away from him. Newton's laws of physics say that each action has an equal and opposite reaction. So, that barrel must have hit him in the face...blasting his head backwards so violently that it pulled his whole body backwards.
You can see that in 1 frame before he starts flying backwards. His body is still, but his head is bent so far back that it could have broken his neck at that point.