Cheap gas cylinders are a danger users as the gas in them is usually extracted or traded illegally, the director of HCM City’s Firefighting and Control Department Lê Tấn Bửu has said. — Photo baotintuc.vn

HÀ NỘI — Cheap gas cylinders are a danger users as the gas in them is usually extracted or traded illegally, the director of HCM City’s Firefighting and Control Department Lê Tấn Bửu has said.

Bửu has called on people to stop buying illegally extracted/traded gas to reduce gas-related fires.

He said as quote on Tin tức (News) newspaper on Tuesday that fake gas cylinders were more likely to explode than certified cylinders.

People also needed to be more careful in using gas and responding to gas incidents, according to Bình.

Earlier this month, a fire reportedly occurred in the kitchen of a restaurant in Bình Thạnh District’s Ward 25. Two gas cylinders exploded in the incident.

Early in June, a 12-kg gas cylinder on a mobile bread stall in District 2 leaked and caused a fire, threatening roadside houses.

Gas-related incidents remind HCM City citizens of the gas explosion in 2012 that killed four people and injured 13 others.

The explosion was caused by gas leakage when a couple illegally extracted gas in their rented room. Before leaving the room, they switched off the circuit breaker, producing a spark that combined with the leaked started a fire.

According to the Việt Nam Gas Association, there are more than 20 million gas cylinders in use, a quarter of which are fake or substandard cylinders.

There are at least 500,000 fake gas cylinders in use in HCM City alone.

Vice director of HCM City’s Industry and Trade Department Nguyễn Phương Đông said there were about 1,300 gas business in the city, 1,000 of which were small household business.

Previously, household gas businesses could buy gas from different agencies, which made it difficult to tact the origin of gas.

Đông said that in the last few years, each household business registered to buy gas from only one agency so that authorities could detect and punish violators more easily.

The city hasn’t granted a new gas business license since 2005, Đông said

Nguyễn Quang Ninh, chairman of Vũng Tàu Petrolium Trading and Service Joint Stock Company, said that strict punishments to violators and better co-operation among gas businesses were needed to curb fake or contraband gas. — VNS