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At Least 17 Injured In Gas Canister Explosion in Bali
Made Arya Kencana | February 18, 2012

Blast victims are treated at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar on Friday. At least 17 people were hospitalized, including nine in critical condition, after an explosion at a gas canister distribution shop. JG Photo/J.P. Christo Blast victims are treated at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar on Friday. At least 17 people were hospitalized, including nine in critical condition, after an explosion at a gas canister distribution shop. JG Photo/J.P. Christo
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Denpasar. At least 17 people were injured, including nine who are in critical condition, when a gas canister distribution shop in Denpasar exploded on Friday.

The blast occurred at about 4 p.m., destroying the shop on Jalan Pulau Roti. All of the victims were shop workers who at the time were loading gas canisters onto the back of a pick-up truck.

“We were loading the canisters for tomorrow’s shipment, but suddenly there was an explosion,” said Dana Adi Rajasa, one of the injured workers.

Thirteen workers were rushed to state-run Sanglah Hospital while the rest, who only suffered minor injuries, were taken to the smaller Surya Husada Hospital.

“We have nine patients who required intensive care because they are seriously burned,” Sanglah Hospital spokesman Ida Bagus Ken Wirasandi said.

He said the critical condition victims suffered burns on up to 50 percent of their bodies.

The site was heavily guarded on Friday as police attempted to pinpoint the blast’s origin.

“We are still questioning several witnesses because the identity of the owner of the shop is still not clear,” Bali Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Ida Bagus Made Sarjana said. “We cannot confirm how the explosion occurred.”

In 2010, the nation was rocked by a spate of LPG cylinder explosions, many of which involved three-kilogram cylinders distributed by the government as part of a controversial kerosene-to-gas conversion program.

Many of the explosions were believed to have been caused by faulty regulators and containers, and negligence from profiteers trying to illicitly siphon gas from the three-kilogram canisters to unsubsidized 12-kilogram ones.