VIC:Man loses legs in fun gone wrong

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2011
VIC:Man loses legs in fun gone wrong

By Joel Cresswell

MELBOURNE, Aug 22 AAP - Playing around with chemicals in a Victorian backyard has left
two men fighting for their lives with injuries not normally seen outside a war zone.

One man lost both legs and another suffered life-threatening burns when a homemade
explosive device blew up at the rural home.

The two men were mixing chemicals in a container in front of a group of neighbours
at the Cannons Creek property, southeast of Melbourne, when it exploded shortly after
11pm (AEST) on Sunday.

Both men are now fighting for their lives in Melbourne hospitals.

A paramedic on scene, Ben Meadley, likened the injuries to those typically found in
a war zone, saying a 24-year-old man had "complete or near amputation" of his legs and
a hand.

"One (patient) had severe airway burns and the second patient suffered severe blast-type
injuries, the type of injury you'd more liken to what you'd see in a war situation rather
than in outer suburban Melbourne," he said.

It's believed the accident was essentially fun gone wrong.

The two men were mixing the chemicals to make an improvised explosive device, possibly
a rocket, in front of neighbours and may have been planning to bury it when it exploded.

Arson squad Senior Detective Cameron Lunny said the men were experimenting with the chemicals.

"They were just having a bit of a muck around I think," Sen Det Lunny told reporters.

"There's certainly no indication it was anything apart from just experimenting."

A 24-year-old Pakenham man, with blast injuries and burns to his face and airways,
remains in a critical condition in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

He was given a blood transfusion in the helicopter en route to hospital.

"Due to his severe blast injuries he'd lost quite a lot of blood," Mr Meadley said.

"We were able to give him quite a bit of blood and resuscitate his blood pressure.

Then we were able to give him some powerful drugs and ... put him into an induced coma."

A 23-year-old Cannons Creek man suffered burns to his face, arms and airway and is
in a critical condition in The Alfred hospital.

Neighbours said the explosion was felt in nearby homes.

"I believe a lot of the neighbours who were up to a few hundred metres away felt their
houses rock, so it was quite a large explosion," Mr Meadley told ABC radio.

Neighbour Judy Gibbs said it was a huge explosion.

"I'd gone to bed and next minute there was this great, big, loud explosion - the windows
in my house shook, the whole house shook," she told the ABC.

AAP jcr/mn/jl/hn

KEYWORD: EXPLOSION WRAP

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