An experiment with nitrogen is to be demonstrated to families at a science event in Spain. An explosion occurs. More than a dozen people, including children, were injured, some seriously.
An explosion at a science festival in north-east Spain injured 18 people, some seriously – including ten children between the ages of three and 13. The accident happened late Friday evening during the demonstration of an experiment in the House of Culture in Girona, Catalonia, about 100 kilometers northeast of Barcelona, ??as reported by the media, citing the authorities and hospital spokesmen.
During a demonstration as part of the festival organized by the University of Girona (UdG), a container of liquid nitrogen exploded in front of an audience of 200 to 300 people, made up mostly of families, it said. Those affected suffered no burns. However, most of them were injured by parts of the exploded metal canister.
As “El Periódico” reports, a five-year-old suffered the worst injuries. She is now being treated in Girona hospital along with four other seriously injured people – two other children aged ten and twelve, a 47-year-old and a 31-year-old man.
Seven people were also hospitalized with minor injuries: three women, aged 23, 42 and 44, a 52-year-old man, two girls, aged 11 and 13, and an 11-year-old boy. Six people were also treated for limb injuries.
UdG spokesman Salvador Martí assured that the experiment with the liquid nitrogen had often been carried out without any problems. It was “incomprehensible” why the accident happened. Girona Mayor Marta Madrenas traveled to the scene and regretted that so many people, especially children, were at the show. The Catalan police will investigate, said UdG spokesman Martí.
