Fisherman injured, boat sunk in butane explosion
The sound reverberated like thunder through both sides of downtown Belize City Monday night and people rushed to the Swing Bridge like mosquitoes to a newly arrived tourist. It was around seven-fifteen and what normally would have been a picturesque fleet of fishing boats rocking calmly at anchor was instead the scene of a disaster.
All that remains of the Sureidy, a twenty-seven foot fishing vessel, are pieces of wood. The boat, which was docked behind the Commercial Centre, was blown to smithereens Monday night after a butane tank that was inside the boat, exploded. The only person aboard, sixty-one year old Aurelio Tzib, lies in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital with superficial burns to his face, hands and right foot.
Aurelio Tzib, Burn Victim
“I was going to light the stove, its automatic you do not have to use match. I was about to heat some water and as I turned the knob it exploded.”
It’s a miracle Tzib managed to escape. The Sureidy, valued at twenty thousand dollars and not insured, was not so lucky. A year ago, Teofilo Margarito suffered second degree burns to over forty percent of his body after the tank on his boat exploded.
Teofilo Margarito, Friend
“The same way, the way it happened, was that the gas was leaking and when I light up, it caught fire. The butane or the tank didn’t exploded. My uncle he moved rapidly and closed the tank so the fire could not spread and damage something else.”
Jacqueline Woods
“The problem is that a majority of fishermen have their butane tanks stored inside their tiny vessels. It’s a dangerous habit that if not corrected will lead to more explosions and possibly death.”
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
“You see the thing with butane gas is that once it leaks, because it is sort of heavier than air it sinks to the lowest possible area and then it just stays there until it gets some source of ignition to explode. These smaller areas that the fishermen use to do their cooking and sleeping, is very confined and it is very low, so once the butane gas leaks it goes and it stays in there for a long time period of time and all it takes is just a spark and boom its an explosion.”
Teofilo Margarito
“That is one matter that has us very worried because we are like in a bomb. All the fishermen are running the same risk as to what happened.”
“Now we are not just hearing about it, we are seeing what has happened. So this is a time when fishermen, government and all of us have to take safety measures on how to use the gas butane.”
Henry Baizar
“I think what will be safer because of the confined space in those small boats, is for them to put the tank somewhere outside of the boat. These tanks are designed to withstand weather because like for us, we have our tanks but we have it outside of our house and it’s virtually out there in the rain and in the sun so it is more advisable to keep the tanks outside of the boat.”
Jacqueline Woods
“That is if you want to keep on having butane tanks in your vessel.”
Henry Baizar
“Yes, that is if they want to keep on or they can go to alternative source of cooking.”
Homeowners are also being advised that it is not safe to keep the cylinders inside your house. What happened to the Sureidy could also take place in your home.
Sailors who use gasoline engines are also reminded to keep their gas tank areas well vented as the fumes from leaking fuel can have the same effect when ignited.
