Explosion Gazelle

I don't know why stuff blowing up is so fascinating, but this Russian (?) video shows how curious people stick around to watch. Someone said there are 39 explosions, but I didn't count. There are some strange video game sounding alarms, too!!



The translator for Google says this video is titled "Explosion gazelle with a canister on the Ring Road".

Spoiler alert! At about 7:05 we get a clue about what is blowing up. Maybe propane tanks?

UPDATE from tadchem!!

Great pre-explosion footage from inside one of the cars on the same road. This guy pulls over for the speeding truck, but I can't figure out what the truck hits.

At least this guy is smart enough to start backing up!!



Rich tells us in the comments that the "Gazelle" in the title refers to the type of truck. Gotta love WUvies!!

This video and others from Russia make me wonder if all cars are equipped with cameras? Might not be a bad idea -- where can I get one?
     Posted By: gdanea - Thu Aug 08, 2013
     Category: Explosives





Comments
Propane, oxygen, or acetylene tanks for sure and, yes, it's in Russia. The cop car backing through the frame a 7:22 is covered in some STRANGE letters that only a flock of drunk monks feeling particularly evil could come up with.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/09/13 at 12:43 AM
Gotta be propane. Oxygen doesn't burn on it's own and acetylene burns with a redder flame and lots of smoke. You can see a number of tanks that were thrown free burning with a bushy orange flame and essentially no smoke. Also, acetylene tanks are double walled so they would be much less likely to explode and when they do as a result of a fire it will nearly always blow the valve off in a jet of flame rather than the fire balls seen in the video. And there are way more propane trucks rolling around.
Posted by Miles on 08/09/13 at 02:33 AM
I'd guess propane tanks. There's a standard size which is about the same diameter as the propane tanks people in the U.S. buy for their grilles, but these are about 4 feet tall. The steel is about the same thickness.

If you look carefully at about 3:20, one becomes a rocket -- no flame, but it's going up at about a 45 degree angle over the trees on the right.

The odd sounds are sirens behind and the to right of the camera. The emergency vehicles are staying well back because there's nothing they can do -- anybody in there is already dead, and trying to put it out would be very risky. It was best to just let it burn itself out.

I've never understood the design of pressurized tanks -- the standard failure mode for the valves turns then into dangerous rockets.
Posted by Phideaux on 08/09/13 at 02:34 AM
The tank that takes off flying around 3:20 is my favorite. Can you imagine having a burning 25 pound steel tank come crashing down on you from a couple hundred feet in the air? Makes the shrapnel sound piddly by comparison.
Posted by Miles on 08/09/13 at 02:41 AM
Don't attempt to apply American safety standards to what's happening over here. Some of the propane tanks in use, even here in Greece, were used by Noah on his historic voyage. Size also doesn't apply as there are a myriad of odd-ball sizes available, too.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/09/13 at 04:25 AM
The above comment does NOT apply to Sweden.
Posted by Johan on 08/09/13 at 06:21 AM
As for gdanea's rhetorical question of why people find explosions so fascinating, I believe it is the sight of that split second between order and chaos that attracts those of us who like to watch.
Posted by KDP on 08/09/13 at 10:23 AM
FYI - The GAZelle (Russian: ГАЗе́ль) is a series of mid-sized trucks, vans and buses made by Russian car manufacturer GAZ.
Posted by Rich on 08/09/13 at 02:26 PM
Same event; different viewpoint - shows the truck speeding before the accident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-GLulOc868
Location on Google Maps:
55.774227,37.842629
Posted by tadchem on 08/09/13 at 04:41 PM
I counted 38 separate explosions. There could have been 39 as there were a couple groups of them that happened pretty close together.
Posted by Ceredur on 08/09/13 at 05:26 PM
WOW! That is some wreck. Crazy people gawking from way too close.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/09/13 at 06:45 PM
Re: videos from Russia -- there was so much fraud (fake accidents, etc.) that a few years ago, insurance companies started making dashboard cameras mandatory. No dashcam, no insurance.

There was some talk of making it a law, but I don't know if that ever happened.
Posted by Phideaux on 08/09/13 at 11:40 PM
We were watching a fire that included a 250 gallon deisel tank. We were SAFELY back about 200 yards. When the tank blew, it went about 300 yards.
Posted by BMN on 08/11/13 at 01:41 PM
Yeah, dashcams are nearly ubiquitous in Russia. That got s lot of news coverage a few months back with that meteor and all the dashcam footage of it.

And if you want one in the US, I've seen them for sale at most truck stops, right there with the radar detectors and CB radios.
Posted by SpyOne on 08/29/13 at 01:57 AM
If I heard correctly, dash cams were made mandatory due to so much insurance fraud. So, if you want your claim paid you better have video proof that the fool ran the red light, hit the light pole that fell on the pedestrian who lurched into oncoming traffic causing the car that hit you to have been pushed into you by the truck.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/29/13 at 09:40 AM
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