Another explosion in Boksburg?

lkpat said:
Crucibles sounds feasable. So just using the shell, but in cutting them open, allowed the gas to escape.
How desperate or thick must you be, though, to cut a cylinder that isn't empty.
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Zama Zamas are generally a bunch of illiterates, just recently with the methane incident in Free State they wanted to go down to retrieve their people because they think the authorities are cowards and telling stories when they said it was still not safe to go down there to retrieve the bodies.

And not like there is a safe environment where there is proper supervision on what to do and not to do.
 
TheChamp said:
Zama Zamas are generally a bunch of illiterates, just recently with the methane incident in Free State they wanted to go down to retrieve their people because they think the authorities are cowards and telling stories when they said it was still not safe to go down there to retrieve the bodies.

And not like there is a safe environment where there is proper supervision on what to do and not to do.
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Very sad. We have too many poor and uneducated people. It's not an indictment on individuals, but a failed state.
 
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AlphaBravo said:
Just for interest, difference between CO2 and NO2. You will cough to get CO2 out of your lungs (reflex), where NO2 you don't cough (no reflex), it just fills up your lungs then you suffocate.
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True, but NO2 is not sold in cylinders (only vials), and is a pungent irritant:
en.wikipedia.org

Nitrogen dioxide - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Only Nitrous oxide (N2O) is (as noted above).
Gordon_R said:
Sure. The point is that if you search for nitrate oxide, there are no such links.

By a process of elimination, the common alternatives reduce down to one which is produced in industrial/medical gas cylinders. See:

Welcome to Home | Afrox eShop - South Africa

Shop online for LPG, industrial gases, equipment & accessories online. Afrox is a world-class gases supplier. Order today.
www.afroxshop.co.za

Nitric oxide is supplied in mini-cylinders, for producing whipped cream.
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AlphaBravo said:
Just for interest, difference between CO2 and NO2. You will cough to get CO2 out of your lungs (reflex), where NO2 you don't cough (no reflex), it just fills up your lungs then you suffocate.
Click to expand...
Gordon_R said:
True, but NO2 is not sold in cylinders (only vials), and is a pungent irritant:
en.wikipedia.org

Nitrogen dioxide - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Only Nitrous oxide (N2O) is (as noted above).
Click to expand...
I don't know if this has been posted but one witness says the gas was pungent and the people just dropped dead, no coughing.

www.news24.com

I saw 'people dropping like flies': Man recalls the night he lost his brothers during Boksburg gas leak | News24

A man who lost his two brothers during a gas leak at a Boksburg informal settlement recalls the horrific scene.
www.news24.com www.news24.com
 
I also spent a good few minutes trying to figure out which gas they might have been talking about. Went into mining journals:cautious:. A nitrate oxide on its own is not even possible unless these zama zamas are theoretical chemists. Closest I found was Bismuth Nitrate Oxide, which is a powder and not related to mining.

So it's either any gas that's heavier than air and not necessarily related to N,
OR, some N gas with an odourant added for detection.
Possibilities abound.
 
c3n0byt3 said:
I also spent a good few minutes trying to figure out which gas they might have been talking about. Went into mining journals:cautious:. A nitrate oxide on its own is not even possible unless these zama zamas are theoretical chemists. Closest I found was Bismuth Nitrate Oxide, which is a powder and not related to mining.

So it's either any gas that's heavier than air and not necessarily related to N,
OR, some N gas with an odourant added for detection.
Possibilities abound.
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It's confusing because it's not clear if they were using the gas or if all they needed was a cylinder, which turns out to have the gas inside.
 
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TheChamp said:
It's confusing because it's not clear if they were using the gas or of all they needed was a cylinder, which turns out to have the gas inside.
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I think its pretty obvious they just wanted the cylinder and didn't give 2 fscks what was inside when they started cutting it open.

**EDIT** I have to wonder what the explosion would have been like if it was a full LPG cylinder...
 
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This Angelo informal settlement is amongst mine dumps so there is inevitably illegal mining going on. Nitrate gas leaked and last night being windless it was a recipe for disaster.
 
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epah said:
Ah man. I wish I could voice my opinion about this situation but I will ruffle a few feathers and my notifications center will end up looking like this again. View attachment 1551899
I will save my insightful and empathetic opinions for the next thread.
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You have to wait till the smoke clears before dropping memes.
 
TheChamp said:
It's confusing because it's not clear if they were using the gas or if all they needed was a cylinder, which turns out to have the gas inside.
Click to expand...
They are said to have been cutting it and reports show they use them like this,
TsdrVj_hgL-aanypVWw8HMnLXiZ_PIIi4-JvXJYiv5UMVtOyrvHZ4TvbnQD2Xp8tHzK65yuJP5xpPv7bLK3IT3XTe-56Qj-3iA8=s750
 
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