A mother in Jiangsu issued a video before Children’s Day, reminding parents to learn from a lesson and not to buy hydrogen balloons for children to play with. “The balloon burst, scared me to death. The back of the child’s head was charred, and the hair on the arm was also burned.”
On May 31st, the mother posted a 7-second surveillance video, saying, “I hope everyone will ask clearly before buying balloons after watching the video and learn from this lesson.”
According to a report by “Huashang Daily” Big News, on the afternoon of June 1st, they contacted the mother in Jiangsu. She said that while feeding her child a chicken leg, there was a loud “bang”, the hydrogen balloon her daughter was playing with suddenly burst behind the child, and she was also startled. Immediately after the incident, she picked up the child to comfort them and checked whether the child was injured.
She said, “I was really scared. The child’s hair was all charred.”
The surveillance video shows that the specific time of the incident was 18:57 on May 30th. The mother said that at the time, she smelled something burning, and initially thought it was a burnt circuit board somewhere, or that there was a fire somewhere.
She introduced that the child was frightened after the incident.
The mother said that before this incident, she and her family thought that the balloon burst due to pressure from playing, but later, “after watching the surveillance video, it was estimated to be caused by static electricity (friction).”
The mother said that the exploding hydrogen balloon was bought from a mobile vendor at the entrance of their residential area. It cost 15 yuan. Before purchasing, they did not ask clearly what gas was filled in it, but it appeared to be a hydrogen balloon.
The mother stated: It’s really deceiving! She hopes that everyone will ask clearly before buying balloons and learn from this lesson. “I didn’t expect that there are still people selling these kinds of hydrogen balloons now, and they are not cheap. Yet, they still want to save money and use hydrogen!”
The mother’s release of the surveillance video sparked a lot of discussion among netizens.
“It’s really scary, luckily it wasn’t in front, otherwise the child’s face would definitely have been injured.” “My child was also blown up once when he was 3 years old, now he is 12 years old, and there is still a shadow.”
Some netizens reminded, “Many merchants now use hydrogen to fill balloons to save costs, so never buy these balloons for children.”
On June 1st, staff from the Jiangsu Provincial Fire Department said, “Hydrogen is a flammable gas, and should not be bought for children to play with.”
Staff from the Emergency Management Department of Nanjing City said, “If the balloon is filled with hydrogen, it is prone to explosions, and open flames and static electricity sparks can easily ignite it.”