Exploding Tank in Utila

[Cowfish Aesthetic]

[T]he photo of the ruptured tank, to myself, raises questions. In most of the tank failures that I have heard of over the last few years an older 6351 aluminum alloy tank was involved. With the 6351 tanks I thought that the failure point was in the neck area of the tank. This tank appears to have ruptured at the bottom or mid tank area. Has anyone seen this type of failure previously?

I have no firsthand knowledge on the subject, but a google image search for "exploded scuba tank" shows a diversity of failure points.

 

[CuzzA]

From Utila Search & Rescue:



View attachment 441793

That's the tank??? No wonder it freaking blew.

 

[tridacna]

A 16 year old girl has died and this is the concern?

Yup. Your melodramatic heart-tugging post does not change what happened. OTOH if this was an O2 tank, that’s of interest.

This is A&I. SB has a separate forum for condolences and eulogies. And you know it.

 

[undrwater]

That's the tank??? No wonder it freaking blew.

See something obvious? Based on the valve, it looks old. Nothing else screams obvious to me, but I'm no expert.

 

[Nettie-NZ]

On a theoretical basis in a failure, you need a source of initiation and then energy to propagate the failure. For a full scuba tank, or a tank being filled, the source of energy to propagate the failure is easy - it’s the compressed gas.
The source of initation can be a whole range of things from mechanical damage to corrosion (including stress corrosion cracking) or a combination of things. Some of these mechanism can occur at the microstructure level - eg need microscope or even possibly electron microscope to examine. Without a metallurgist/ professional engineer examining it you can’t say for sure the real cause, especially if there are a combination of factors.

 

[wgw04024]

A 16 year old girl has died and this is the concern?

I was wondering the same thing. Honestly, I've always thought from a non-diver, this would not be an unrealistic characterization. I just find it puzzling how some people are so 'offended' by this. Seems a bit overboard.

 

[Cowfish Aesthetic]

I was wondering the same thing. Honestly, I've always thought from a non-diver, this would not be an unrealistic characterization. I just find it puzzling how some people are so 'offended' by this. Seems a bit overboard.

The relationship between pure O2 and combustion is well known. Air is... air. It may be an understandable mistake, but the distinction seems more than a little bit relevant to the A&I forum regarding a tank explosion.

 

[Nettie-NZ]

Technical details aren’t always accurate in media in the developed world - this news report is from Honduras..... ...plus the main language in Utila is English and the mainland of Honduras is Spanish. I wouldn’t too get fussed over expecting the news reporting to give you the real true story...

 

[akdeepdiver]

My condolences to all involved. I do not wish downplay the human tragedy of this event but the photo of the ruptured tank, to myself, raises questions. In most of the tank failures that I have heard of over the last few years an older 6351 aluminum alloy tank was involved. With the 6351 tanks I thought that the failure point was in the neck area of the tank. This tank appears to have ruptured at the bottom or mid tank area. Has anyone seen this type of failure previously?

I have seen multiple ruptures in the sidewall of cylinders. Usually the result of the tank being exposed to high heat (i.e. powder coating the tank, heat cured auto paint, or involved in a fire) and loosing the strength holding temper or excessive corrosion on the sidewall causing a weak point resulting in a rupture.

 

[CuzzA]

See something obvious? Based on the valve, it looks old. Nothing else screams obvious to me, but I'm no expert.

Maybe it's just me, but the inside of that tank doesn't look good. Id be curious when the last time it had a viz and hydro.