Mysterious spate of deadly AC explosions

Numerous technicians in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Spain and Vietnam have been killed or injured in recent weeks in a spate mysterious air conditioning explosions, according to sketchy, often contradictory media reports from those countries.

In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, four or five workers were taken to hospital for treatment of burns ranging from seven to 30 per cent of their bodies after an air conditioner was said to have exploded.

Just weeks later a technician died in the same city after suffering burns to 80 per cent of his body from an air conditioner gas cylinder explosion in an air conditioning workshop and another was seriously burnt.

At a casino in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, one technician died at the scene and another on the way to hospital when an air conditioner they were working on exploded in what local police described as “like a grenade” and shattered all nearby windows.

In the city of Dehradun, around 250km north of the Indian capital Delhi, a technician died and three others were injured in another air conditioning explosion as they were replacing a compressor. At least one of those hurt was reportedly seriously burnt.

A technician working on a rooftop air conditioning unit in the Spanish city of Seville suffered burns and injuries caused by flying components after the equipment exploded, while a pedestrian in the street below is also thought to have been hurt by falling debris.

Reports of another death and two serious injuries have also emanated from a suburb of Vietnam’s largest city, Ho Chi Minh, where an explosion ripped through an air conditioning repair shop.

There are no suggestions that these incidents are related and all remain under investigation, but at least two have been blamed on incorrect working procedures and another attributed to a leaking cylinder of brazing gas.