Shopping Area

KLANG: The busy shopping enclave near Centrepoint Complex here was rocked by a series of explosions when three gas cylinders, filled with ethylene gas for use in welding and the shaping and cutting of iron, suddenly blew up.

The cylinders were being transported in a Toyota Hilux and thankfully, no one except the male driver of the Hilux was injured in the 10.30 a.m. mishap. Four other vehicles parked nearby – a lorry, a Proton Wira, a Chevrolet and a Perodua Viva – were badly damaged, which spewed a column of black smoke visible from kilometres away.

“We inspected one of the CCTVs installed in the area and saw the driver had stopped the car for a while. The explosion happened when he started driving again,” said station’s duty officer Maulud Bedul, adding that the car’s engine was left running all the time.

According to forensic investigation, there had been a leakage from one of the cylinders. The driver might have been smoking, thus triggering the explosion.