Disaster Boiler explosion leaves 6 dead, including one Chinese, in Vietnam

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The scene of a boiler explosion at a wood production company in Dong Nai Province on May 1, 2024.

A boiler exploded at a wood production factory in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam on Wednesday morning, killing six people, including a Chinese citizen, and injuring seven others.

The tragedy occurred at 8:10 am at Sunrise Wood Trading Production Company in Thien Tan Commune under Vinh Cuu District.

The deceased were identified as Lo Van Lon, a resident of Son La Province, Luong Van Hung, from Nghe An Province, Tran Van Nguyen, who resided in northern Bac Giang Province, Tran Van Cuong, a resident of Bac Lieu Province, Son Ngoc Thuy, from Soc Trang Province, and Xie ZhenLong, a Chinese citizen.

An official from the Vinh Cuu District administration this morning confirmed a boiler explosion at the company.

“The blast killed six people and wounded seven others,” said the official.

The injured were taken to nearby hospitals for emergency treatment.


A worker injured in a boiler blast receives treatment at Thong Nhat General Hospital in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam, May 1, 2024.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Loan, deputy head of Thong Nhat General Hospital in Dong Nai Province, said that the hospital had admitted five victims from the explosion.

They were rushed to the hospital while suffering several injuries.

The hospital mobilized many nurses and doctors to treat these injured people, aged 27 to 41.

Some 30 employees were working at the company when the explosion happened, said a representative of the company.

The firm, whose director is Feng Yong, a Chinese, is located near a residential area.

Some survivors of the blast recalled that the company requested them to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, despite these two days falling within the ongoing Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers’ Day (May 1) holiday period.

The deadly incident happened on Wednesday morning, they said.

Police officers are investigating the cause of the boiler explosion.

 

[Don Herbert]

Is a "wood production factory" the same thing as a sawmill or are they ginning up their chinesium wood laminate out of gutter oil and wontons?

 

[jertzog]

Is a "wood production factory" the same thing as a sawmill or are they ginning up their chinesium wood laminate out of gutter oil and wontons?

The pulp and paper process can be pretty volatile, which easily leads to minor explosion incidents.
A big one like this is pretty rare, but not surprising considering Chinese incompetence. I'm surprised more vessels don't go boom in more areas of industry.

 

[DumbDude43]

Is a "wood production factory" the same thing as a sawmill or are they ginning up their chinesium wood laminate out of gutter oil and wontons?

wood is processed into a lot of different products, not just boards and beams for construction

I'm surprised more vessels don't go boom in more areas of industry.

water boilers have been around for hundreds of years, people have figured out lots of ways to increase safety and prevent them from getting blown apart by overpressure

 

[William Murderface]

Scalded to death is real low on my list of preferred ways to go.

 

[Dr. Ricearoni]

Leaving 6 people dead and one person chinese, how horrible.

 

[God's drunkest driver]

I can't help but think of this meme when I hear about boiler explosions now.

 

[pot of sneed]

Sounds like sum ting wong.

 

[McMitch]

water boilers have been around for hundreds of years, people have figured out lots of ways to increase safety and prevent them from getting blown apart by overpressure

Don’t forget: they can always build a better idiot.

 

[Iron Hamster]

boiler probably exploded because of all the dust that was probably never ever cleaned up?

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

I can't help but think of this meme when I hear about boiler explosions now.

If I go via a boiler explosion I give everyone permission to hack all my accounts and post this meme

 

[jertzog]

water boilers have been around for hundreds of years, people have figured out lots of ways to increase safety and prevent them from getting blown apart by overpressure

I know this just as well as you do. It's Chinese incompetence that has me surprised there aren't more major incidents. The many interlocks and safeties still require diligent hands to be effective.

 

[Flamin Park]

Rake Le another boirermakel

The men with ven have fallen

 

[BulkForceFive]

boiler probably exploded because of all the dust that was probably never ever cleaned up?

Nah, either a furnace explosion or 'puff' that ruptured the waterside, or low-water conditions led to overheating of exposed metal and subsequent failure. I'm guessing the latter, since it probably was fired on sawdust and wood waste from the process.

 

[Snekposter]

wood is processed into a lot of different products, not just boards and beams for construction

Wood mills also like to use some of the waste as fuel in steam plants to generate electricity. In the USA at least they tend to be net contributors to the power grid. Wouldn't surprise me if they do the same elsewhere. Why buy power when you can create some with the unwanted dross your work creates?

 

[JustSomeDong]

I miss liveleak...

 

[FieldPiece]

I'm gonna bet Mr. Psi Tu Hai hadn't done any maintainance or even read the manual. But hey, steamed long pig, yum!

 

[WelperHelper99]

Nah, either a furnace explosion or 'puff' that ruptured the waterside, or low-water conditions led to overheating of exposed metal and subsequent failure. I'm guessing the latter, since it probably was fired on sawdust and wood waste from the process.

Could have been anything honestly. Boilers are a maintence nightmare. If you weld on them you can make a lot of money because they are basically pressure cooker bombs with a control panel. They are at constant risk of failure. If you aren't doing routine maintence, it will blow, it will kill six people as seen here.

 

[Grub]

The pulp and paper process can be pretty volatile, which easily leads to minor explosion incidents.
A big one like this is pretty rare, but not surprising considering Chinese incompetence. I'm surprised more vessels don't go boom in more areas of industry.

I was actually talking to a guy a couple of months ago that works at a pulp and paper mill specifically monitoring the boiler pressures and shit like that. He was telling me about a time when they thought the whole thing was going to go. Someone closed a valve they shouldn't have and the pressures started going up. They ended up evacuating most of the people and they just barely managed to relieve the pressure in time before it blew. He was saying that if it had gone the whole mill and probably a bunch of the surrounding area would have been gone in the explosion.

 

[BulkForceFive]

I was actually talking to a guy a couple of months ago that works at a pulp and paper mill specifically monitoring the boiler pressures and shit like that. He was telling me about a time when they thought the whole thing was going to go. Someone closed a valve they shouldn't have and the pressures started going up. They ended up evacuating most of the people and they just barely managed to relieve the pressure in time before it blew. He was saying that if it had gone the whole mill and probably a bunch of the surrounding area would have been gone in the explosion.

I'm a little skeptical because even in the more lax US states, the ASME construction code applies, and that specifies relief devices capable of limiting pressure rise to within the MAWP. Now a recovery boiler in a paper mill IS still very dangerous because A) the pulp industry is cheap, old and shoddy and B) the injection of chemicals into the boiler (liquors from the delignification process) to burn off the lignin is basically shooting water streams inside a hot metal structure which can cause all sorts of problems. Rupturing a couple wall tubes won't bring the whole building down but it's not exactly a 'low impact' kind of event. Recovery boilers need way more care in operations than large package boilers or even large steam generating units.

Source: I am a boiler operator (licensed) so this is one of the few things I'm not talking out of my ass about.