Wendy/Darwin says, "Accepted into the Archive."

Confirmed true: widely reported

A man in Malacca, Malaysia was killed by an explosion while filling his van up with natural gas at a petrol station. The problem was that he had simply taken a cooking gas* tank and hooked it up to his van rather than having the vehicle properly converted.

*liquid petrolem gas, or LPG is purchased in tanks by most Malaysian homes, rather than having gas pipelines to houses as Americans do.

Tragedy for brothers who modified cooking gas tank for car
By CHEN PELF YEEN and ALLISON LAI MALACCA: Tragedy struck two brothers trying to save on fuel by self-modifying a cooking gas tank for their van's natural gas tank when one of them was killed in an explosion. The incident occurred at a Petronas petrol station in Batu Berendam on Friday night. The incident happened when brothers Mohd Hailmi Ishak, 25, from Kampung Duyong, and his brother Rosli Ishak, 30, from Taman Tiang Dua, had stopped at the petrol station at about 7.50pm Friday to pump gas into their Toyota Lite Ace van with the help of a worker Razali Md Zin, 31. It is believed that Rosli, the driver, was refuelling the vehicle while his younger brother was standing nearby with Razali when the blast occurred, shattering the front portion of the vehicle including blowing out two of its doors. The explosion completely shattered Mohd Hailmi?s left leg and ripped his stomach open while Rosli and Razali escaped with light injuries. Mohd Hailmi, a self-employed electrician, was rushed to the Malacca Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries at about 1.30am Saturday. When met at the hospital, Mohd Hailmi?s father-in-law, Zahmin Ibrahim, 50, said the victim and his daughter Nur Syahirah Zahmin, 23, had recently tied the knot in July and had gone for their honeymoon in New Zealand three months ago. He said that his daughter, who is two-months pregnant, was devastated at the tragic death of her husband. It is learnt that Mohd Hailmi and Rosli run a family business repairing and dealing in second-hand electrical appliances that involves them making trips to Singapore and Johor with the van. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam urged the police and relevant authorities to investigate the incident to determine how a cooking gas tank could have been modified for use in the vehicle. Meanwhile, Kubu Fire and Rescue stations investigating officer Mokhtar Osman said initial investigations indicated that the gas tank was located underneath the front seat of the vehicle.

Submitted on 11/11/2008

Submitted by: Xenobiologista
Reference: The Malaysian Insider, November 12, 2008. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/1202

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
This sounded very familiar to me but I couldn't find any duplicate submissions so I'll gladly accept this one. Jury rigging your own LNG tank certainly is NOT an intelligent thing to attempt. Thanks!

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I agree with Bruce! The "familiar" might have been because several months ago a guy in South America tried to illegally fill his home supply tanks -hidden in his trunk- by connecting them to his car gas line. (Different types/pressures fuel involved.) This is just as stupid. Thanks!

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