Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment an eight-year-old boy is sent flying into the air after dropping a lit banger into a septic tank causing a manhole cover to blow up in his face.
The heart-stopping incident happened inside the car park of the Ruixueyuan Residential District in the city of Dunhuang, which is in north-western China’s Gansu Province, on the afternoon of 10th January.
In the security footage, the schoolboy and his friend can be seen walking home from class when the child stops next to the manhole reportedly covering the gated community’s septic tank.
He squats down and puts the lit banger into a gap in the manhole cover, with his friend seemingly already prepared for what is to come.
As his friend covers his ears and moves away, a spark can be seen as the banger ignites biogas – reportedly including methane – in the septic tank, causing an immediate explosion.
The manhole cover shoots up into the air, hitting the boy in the chin and sending him flying backwards..
The metal cover flies out of frame before re-emerging and shattering into numerous pieces on the ground nearby.
Witnesses gather around the injured schoolboy, who appears to be bleeding from the nose and mouth, the video shows.
A witness and one of the boy’s neighbours, Mr Wu, recalled: “I heard a loud bang from my home and thought a heating pipe had exploded.
“I came outside and saw the child lying there, and the manhole cover having flown somewhere else.
“The boy was bleeding from his mouth, so I wiped it off and asked my wife to find his family.
“But in the end I took him to hospital before they arrived.”
According to reports, the boy continues to receive treatment in the Intensive Care Unit at Dunhuang Hospital.
He is not believed to be in any life-threatening condition, but the precise nature of his injuries has not been reported.
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