Christmas celebrations turned into panic and trauma as a gas cylinder exploded killing three persons and injuring 22. The prime minister swiftly took action and announced a ban on similar cylinders.

Published Friday, December 27, 1985

XMAS EVE BLAST KILLS 3

22 injured as gas cylinder explodes among shoppers

THREE PEOPLE WERE KILLED and 22 injured when a balloon seller's gas cylinder exploded among scores of Christmas Eve shoppers Tuesday night in Premier Plaza, uptown Kingston.

Dead are: Allan Thomas, 65, vendor of Lot 681 Garveymeade, St Catherine; Delroy Stewart, 18, of Salkey Way, Duhaney Park; and an unidentified male.

The explosion, which occurred at about 6.30 p.m., rocked the uptown shopping plazas along Constant Spring Road, shattering store windows, and was heard over a three-mile radius.

The Christmas Eve tragedy struck at Premier Plaza when a gas cylinder used to inflate gas balloons exploded into the crowd of shoppers. The gas normally used to fill the balloons is helium, but according to reports, the cylinder was filled with a gas which had been produced from the compound of zinc and hydrochloric acid. The cylinder had become hot and was being cooled down with water when it exploded.

The bits of shrapnel-like metal hurled by the blast from the cylinder slashed bodies and other objects in the area. Damage occurred up to 60 feet away from the explosion.

Legs were severed from bodies: one from the hip down, and the others from inches above the ankle. Cars in the plaza’s parking lot were badly damaged.

The injured were rushed to Kingston public and university hospitals as sirens of police and firefighting units screamed through the streets above the din of Yuletide music and frolic to get to the tragic scene.

The incident left a trail of disaster and tragedy which dampened the Christmas spirit and brought a halt to hustle and bustle in the immediate area for several hours.

Eyewitness Noel Shaw, a vendor of 4 Collins Green Avenue, St Andrew, whose cart was close to the cylinder,  was the only person who came away unscarred from the incident, although he had been rubbing shoulders with some victims just before the catastrophe.

He told The Gleaner that  about 6 p.m., a group of men came on the scene with the cylinder and balloons. They were pumping balloons and doing a thriving business at $5 each. Mr Shaw said he saw bubbles and steam coming from the cylinder.

Mind it blow up!” he said as he warned the balloon vendors.

Five minutes after his warning, the cylinder exploded, shaking the earth and smashing store windows and car windshields.

Shrieks and yells mingled with the falling splinters and filled the air. After the instant explosion, mangled bodies were sprawled on the ground.

Extensive damage was done to business places such as Crazy Jim Restaurant, Blondell’s Beauty Care, Things Jamaica Limited, Cindy’s Boutique, Skill Furniture Company Limited, BJ’s Restaurant, Mutual Premier Child, and Jamaica Citizens Bank.

The scene of peddling and window shopping turned out for many to be one of shock and horror.

"Junior, we me dey? Junior, hold me right…please don’t take me there,” cried higgler Kay Williams, who was in obvious shock. She had been quickly dragged to the ground by a man.

Seaga ordered the seizure of all such cylinders in the city. Firefighters and police seized 16 cylinders.

"The whole situation is sad because the monitoring and control of hazardous chemicals need to be stepped up,” the prime minister said. He added words of sympathy for the relatives of those who died. The objects found on the scene were to be taken to the Bureau of Standards for testing.

Seaga waved his hand pointing at what he called the ramshackle skirting the plaza. “We won’t have this next year.”

Spaulding regretted that too many lives have been lost because of a failure to adhere to safety rules.

President of the People’s National Party Michael Manley expressed regret at the incident and extended sympathy to the bereaved families.

At the Kingston Public Hospital, the casualty department staffed by junior doctors, headed by Dr Maurice Slowly, was buzzing with activity in an effort to save lives. The medical team worked against the background of a scarce supply of intraveneous fluids, hydrogen peroxide, blood and stretchers.

The injured

The injured persons admitted to the Kingston Public Hospital from the Christmas Eve explosion are: Derrick Irvin, of Waltham Park Road, Kingston 11; Lincoln Ramcharam, 14, of an Olympic Gardens address; Faye ,30, of Caymanas Gardens, St Catherine; Anthony Baker, 34, of Love Lane in Kingston; Walbert Marshall, 16, of Holbourn Avenue, Kingston; Winsome Barnes, 28, Central Path, Calabar Mews; and Pauline Woodburn, 17, of a Rosemary Lane address.

Those treated at KPH and sent home are; Stanley Kay, of Elm Crescent, Kingston 11; Kenrick Johnson of Dunrobin Avenue; Alvin Parkison, 25 Sunrise Crescent, St. Andrew; Joan Edwin of Fifth Street, Greenwich Town; Jeffery King of an August Town, St. Andrew; Sonia Briscoe of Passage Fort, St. Catherine; and Olivia Briscoe of Waltham Park Road.

Those admitted to the University Hospital are: Leslie Sterling, of Ransome Avenue; Kingston 5; Kay Edwards, Shortwood Road, Kingston 8; Joseph Morgan, Nethersole Drive; Clive Hippolite, of the College of Arts Science and Technology (CAST); O’Neil Ramcharam, of Olympic Way, Kingston 11; Natalie and Karen Farquharson, of Edinburgh Avenue, St Andrew; and Barbara Bell of no fixed address.

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