Two trash collectors in Whitehall, Ohio narrowly escaped severe injuries or death after an oxygen tank exploded after it was placed inside a garbage truck. Video footage of the explosion shows one of the men placing the contents of a garbage can inside the truck, only for the oxygen tank illegally placed inside to explode moments later.
Videos by Wide Open Country
According to WSYX, Whitehall Police stated that the explosion was so loud that the city's gunshot notification system was set off. Following the explosion, the contents of the garbage truck soon caught fire. One of the sanitation workers, however, was able to extinguish the fire. The street, at the same time, was covered with trash that was violently sent flying due to the exploding oxygen tank.
Whitehall Police Lt. Tanner Williams said that the illegally disposed oxygen tank was "definitely illegal, and definitely dangerous."
"This is something we definitely want not only the person who did this but also all of our community members to be aware of," Williams said. "There's something you are allowed to throw away, others things you are not allowed to throw away in your trash."
Ryan Jensen of the Local Waste Services said that he was feeling "super fortunate." "A couple of inches there would've been serious injuries or fatality," he said. AJ Strickler said, "It sounds like a bomb went off, it was chaos, there was trash everywhere."
Reactions
Many users online, after seeing the video, were shocked and also grateful that the two trash collectors were able to survive such a dangerous incident.
"I thought a house exploded when this happened! It sounded devastating," one resident wrote on
Facebook. "When they came to get our trash, I spoke to them for a moment & told them how much I appreciate them."Others, however, were asking for justice. They said that authorities should punish the ones responsible for placing the oxygen tank in the garbage can.
"They need to go to the house and give the people who threw it away a ticket/citation," one user wrote. "C'mon, they could of seriously hurt someone it says on the tank do not throw away."
One woman, identified as one of the trash collector's mothers, gave an update about both men's health status.
"Just to give people an update. My son was the guy on the side. Both guys are doing okay. Obviously both were shook up, had some hearing loss and cuts," she wrote. "We all need to be thankful and Thank God that they are both okay. It could have been so much worse."
