Gas explosions continue

Now incident with a cylinder with red coloured tamper proof seal

By Rathindra Kuruwita

State Minister of Co-operative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, yesterday said that there had been a gas explosion involving a gas cylinder with a red coloured tamper proof seal.

Earlier this week, the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) asked Litro Gas to recall all unused LP gas cylinders, distributed before 04 December. This batch of cylinders had a blue-coloured tamper proof seal. The CAA has also asked Litro to release a new batch of cylinders, with a safe composition of gas, with red-coloured seals.

“This is true. We have had such a report. We need to look into this. Sometimes, there are other reasons. For example, there was a death from a gas explosion in Polonnaruwa a few weeks ago. Initially, we thought it was due to a gas leak but later the police found that it was a case of suicide. I am not trying to tell you that this is not a gas leak. We will have to investigate,” he said.

State Minister Alagiyawanna said that a ship carrying LPG was to arrive on Friday and officials of the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI), and CAA would take samples of the gas and send it to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) for testing.

Earlier, ethyl mercaptan was added to the gas cylinders in Sri Lanka to alert people if there was a leak, he said.

“Ethyl mercaptan is commonly used as an additive to odorless gases like butane, propane, and petroleum to warn users in case of leaks. We found that the companies had not added adequate quantities of ethyl mercaptan to the gas. We have also instructed them to add adequate amount of this chemical to the gas before its brought here,” he said.

Alagiyawanna said that around 40% of Sri Lankan families use gas and that it would take time for the issue to be addressed, even though the government would love to solve the issue immediately. Gas cylinders with the changed gas composition would circulate in the market for some time and unfortunately there might be continued explosions in the coming days, he said.