CO2 in our coke

this is how a cryogenic tanker look

weeks ago i was in the western tip of mindanao called ZAMBOANGA. on our way there we passed by the site where a CO2 tanker blew off. initial reports said it was a work of the terrorist and so our government was all so shaken up. the place was a very small village and the media was there to cover.

then the next report was that it was an LPG lorry that had blown off . had it been an LPG lorry it would have caused much more damage. my hub works in an LPG company and he said the LPG could blast at several kilometers radius. ohhh that's frightening.

well, it was a cryogenic tanker hauling CO2 from cagayan de oro city (my hometown) to coca cola co. in zamboanga city, some 530 kilometers. if you notice when you shake a softdrink it will have those tiny bubbles...well that is CO2. if you place a tube of mentos to your coke it will make a rocket. that's also co2 in the works with whatever ingredient mixed with mentos that makes it rocket.

a tanker full of CO2, when agitated may not be as harmful actually. but what happened is that as the tanker negotiated a couple kilometers winding downhill road the tanker's brakes malfunctioned. the more u apply brakes the more heat it would cause and could blow up the whole brake system. and so it failed.

the truck helper then jumped out of the truck(saved but badly bruised and told his story) and the driver decided to smash the tanker on the hillside. the impact made the CO2 cause pressure and the relief valve of the tanker was supposed to work... but it failed. the driver got jammed so local folks rushed to help and during that split second...it would have made a loud hissing sound but the sound it made was a really big bang that spelled DEATH. as told by the locals...

it caused so much damage that a passing bus full of passengers, men, women, and children blew up, too, and other motorist near by. it was carnage all over... folks never recovered the victims as whole. they have to go find body parts at more than a hundred meter radius ...would you say rest in pieces...but there were survivors, too.

my pix are no good taken from a motorola phone inside the car. but i think it can tell a story...i wasn't even able to go out of the car as the place stunk so bad. that was a week later.

(above) start of 2km downhill

scraped-up hill where the tanker driver smashed

what left of the trees@
the exact site where not even a single bolt or any piece of the tanker can be found.
it's chassis went over the hill and the engine above the hill.

the passenger bus that passed by at that exact time and place...
of all the time and place that it could have been but here...

a piece of torn clothing

aftermath...love ones lost, memories remain.
two kids trying to scavenge but found really nothing, zero. but the smell...

and so days later this was in front of me... kind of makes me feel...

ahhh, am just being paranoid.