The balloon vendors in the country use backdated hydrogen gas cylinders instead of helium ones putting children at risk.
Despite the risks it entails, there is no regulation to control or ban their use. Experts said that the developed countries stopped using hydrogen cylinders for balloons nearly 200 years ago.
“They have been using helium for balloons since the discovery of the safe gas,” says Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Professor Dr Ezaz Hossain.
He added that Bangladesh still uses the backdated method of hydrogen cylinders and claimed that those responsible for overseeing it aren’t carrying out their duties.
On Wednesday (Oct 30), at least six children were killed and 14 injured after a balloon vendor's gas cylinder exploded in Dhaka’s Mirpur.
There have been similar accidents before and experts are of the view that negligence regarding such a beloved children’s plaything isn’t acceptable.
Chief Inspector of Explosives Shamsul Alam told Bangla Tribune that what the balloon vendors use are not actually cylinders but gas producing reactors which are completely banned by the Department of Explosives.
“Gas cylinders have been modified so that the hydrogen gas is produced inside,” he said.
He added that hydrogen is produced while the balloon is being filled through the reaction of caustic soda and aluminum powder in the cylinder.
“When there aren’t any customers, they [vendors] close the knob. But hydrogen gas keeps on being produced, increasing pressure inside the cylinders.”
Alam said that the increased pressure keep eroding the insides of the cylinders which at one point becomes weak and explode.
“The police should detain anyone using with these cylinders but they don’t. We have written to them countless times regarding this,” he said.
He added that the law allows only cylinders filled with gas from the factory to be used.
BUET Professor Mohammad Ehsan says that cylinders explode mainly due to two reasons, either they are expired or if leakage occurs while filling air into the balloon.
“When the cylinders are filled with gas they expand. They contract when the balloon is filled which isn’t visible to bare eyes,” he said.
He said that the expired cylinders are not resilient enough to sustain the constant expansion and contraction causes accidents.
Ehsan says that hydraulic tests every year and marking expiry dates on the cylinders are imperative to avoid accidents.
Energy expert and former BUET professor M Tamim says that hydrogen is used instead of helium to fill balloons since the latter is expensive.
“If the cylinders are expired or there are leakages, they might catch fire,” he said before adding that those who supply these cylinders are also responsible and they should regularly check them.
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