Exploding Tank in Utila
- Thread starter Slamfire
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Just read a news report about a fatality in Germany. It happend during filling of a tank.
http://www.hessenschau.de/panorama/hobby-taucher-stirbt-bei-explosion-von-sauerstoff-flasche,taucher-dietzenbach-102.html
The article is speaking about "oxygen-cylinder" nd states, that the 37-year old died when filling his tank with a self constructed compressor.
sh1513
Contributor
- Messages
- 5,141
- Reaction score
- 4,137
- # of dives
- 5000 - ∞
My most sincere condolences to Kelly's family and a speedy recovery for Mr. Diamond
A bit of history..
Approximately 1965 Bob Whitehead, LA Co Life guard, and co owner of Lomita divers in Lomita California was filling a SCUBA tank which was lying on the concrete floor.
The tank suddenly exploded like a bomb driving Bob through a wall and among a number of bruises, scratches and cuts he sustained a broken leg.
A short time later a SCUBA tank exploded in an automobile trunk in Florida, essentially destroying the rear of the automobile and a portion of the patio.
Local SoCal dive shops scrambled to construct special water bath filling stations in order to avoid and other mishaps.
John Gaffney, who was the founder and driving force behind NASDS took another approach...All SCUBA tanks should be inspected on a yearly basis for internal as well as external damage and established the "Visual Inspection Program," the famed amd often cursed VIP. Immediately all NASDS shops as well as those who were not members began enforcing VIPs for their own as well as the diver's protection.
Now it is an industry wide program - but unfortunately not enforced in Utili !
Sam Miller, III
A bit of history..
Approximately 1965 Bob Whitehead, LA Co Life guard, and co owner of Lomita divers in Lomita California was filling a SCUBA tank which was lying on the concrete floor.
The tank suddenly exploded like a bomb driving Bob through a wall and among a number of bruises, scratches and cuts he sustained a broken leg.
A short time later a SCUBA tank exploded in an automobile trunk in Florida, essentially destroying the rear of the automobile and a portion of the patio.
Local SoCal dive shops scrambled to construct special water bath filling stations in order to avoid and other mishaps.
John Gaffney, who was the founder and driving force behind NASDS took another approach...All SCUBA tanks should be inspected on a yearly basis for internal as well as external damage and established the "Visual Inspection Program," the famed amd often cursed VIP. Immediately all NASDS shops as well as those who were not members began enforcing VIPs for their own as well as the diver's protection.
Now it is an industry wide program - but unfortunately not enforced in Utili !
Sam Miller, III
Charles2
Contributor
Thanks for the info. Did you happen to get any information about the manufacturer or the 'born on' date? The news article translation said that the tank was in a boat. Did your contact also mention that it was not?
As others have commented, I thought that the 6351 alloy concerns were mostly about neck cracking. Did your contact have any insight as to why this one seems to have occurred in the sidewall?
He cannot say anything until report is delivered. He confirmed that it was 6351 (seems incidental to me because the neck remained intact) and that the tank exploded on land and not on a boat. It was his opinion that the tank had been subject to frequent heat stress but could not provide any other info. I'll update this if I hear anything else.
Last edited:
There is by virtue or discussion a misunderstanding regarding SLA on 6351. This type of failure is born from a stress concentration. On a "perfect cylinder" then the highest stress point will of course be the neck or the threads. However should another initiation point occur, and this could be corrosion, materiel inclusion or perhaps impact site, then this will become the weak point effectively stress relieving the normally affected area's
The current inspection methods concentrate on the areas most likely to develop defects. The rational behind this is born out with the tiny numbers of actual failure from defects being missed. However Mostly likely isn't a guarantee that a defect won't appear elsewhere on the component, it's just teh chance of it is very small.
UtopiaOnUtila
Registered
Pigeon Cay is a small fishing village (a tiny pair of islands connected by a walking bridge) on the south-west side of Utila (the smallest of the Bay Islands). The small community is devastated by the loss of a young girl, and the trauma suffered by the older gentleman. Because there is a lot of speculation about what happened, I will try to provide what I have learned so far from people that were on the scene of the accident within minutes:
1. It was not an oxygen tank as was reported. It was a standard dive tank. The incorrect reporting was due to the word oxygen tank being used in a local interview.
2. It is not a tank owned by a commercial dive shop. It was the personal property of a local fisherman, and was used for fishing (while diving)
3. The tank did not explode while being filled. It exploded while it was being carried on a dock. It severed the leg of the person carrying it and killed a young girl who was on a small boat just pulling up to the dock with her and her family on board. She was killed instantaneously according to witnesses
4. The disc on the tank was still intact and would suggest it was not overfilled
5. The only readable date stamped on the tank was 2001. Although it is not 100% sure, this would suggest the tank was not hydrostatically tested after that
6. I do not have information on the comment that it was a home made compressor and don't know if that is accurate or not
7. There was no other immediate evidence of why the tank exploded - I assume it is being further investigated
8. One post earlier suggested that tanks are not subject to visual or hydrostatic inspection in the Bay Islands. This may be true for tanks used by local fisherman, but it is not accurate for the dive shops on Utila. Our dive operation performs both regular visual and hydrostatic inspection as recommended, and I believe the same is true for all or at least most of the dive shops on Utila
Pictures of the tank below:
Hopefully that at least helps to reduce the speculation.
Also, I an not sure if it is OK to post it here, but hope that it will be acceptable. Here is a link to a GoFundMe Page setup by the island community to help cover funeral expenses of the young girl and medical costs of the injured gentlemen.
Click here to support Newton & Keily Emergency Fund organized by Steven Becker
1. It was not an oxygen tank as was reported. It was a standard dive tank. The incorrect reporting was due to the word oxygen tank being used in a local interview.
2. It is not a tank owned by a commercial dive shop. It was the personal property of a local fisherman, and was used for fishing (while diving)
3. The tank did not explode while being filled. It exploded while it was being carried on a dock. It severed the leg of the person carrying it and killed a young girl who was on a small boat just pulling up to the dock with her and her family on board. She was killed instantaneously according to witnesses
4. The disc on the tank was still intact and would suggest it was not overfilled
5. The only readable date stamped on the tank was 2001. Although it is not 100% sure, this would suggest the tank was not hydrostatically tested after that
6. I do not have information on the comment that it was a home made compressor and don't know if that is accurate or not
7. There was no other immediate evidence of why the tank exploded - I assume it is being further investigated
8. One post earlier suggested that tanks are not subject to visual or hydrostatic inspection in the Bay Islands. This may be true for tanks used by local fisherman, but it is not accurate for the dive shops on Utila. Our dive operation performs both regular visual and hydrostatic inspection as recommended, and I believe the same is true for all or at least most of the dive shops on Utila
Pictures of the tank below:
Hopefully that at least helps to reduce the speculation.
Also, I an not sure if it is OK to post it here, but hope that it will be acceptable. Here is a link to a GoFundMe Page setup by the island community to help cover funeral expenses of the young girl and medical costs of the injured gentlemen.
Click here to support Newton & Keily Emergency Fund organized by Steven Becker
OP
Slamfire
Contributor
Thank you for updating the information on this case. The comment about the self constructed compressor refers to a different incident that took place in Germany.
Thanks for the better pictures. To me at least it seems likely that internal corrosion was the cause of the fatigue initiation, with the final unfortunate failure being a combination of that last little bit of stress from filling maybe even a gentle knock while being carried. In all probability that cylinder had been ready to burst for a while. It was just unfortunate it did at that time and in that location taking the life of someone so young
Similar threads
