The day negligence exploded: How greed and ignorance fuelled Sri Lanka's LPG disaster

IN 2021, Sri Lanka was rocked by over 400 cooking gas explosions ~ many fatal, many more injured, and all terrified.

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Homes and restaurants became death traps overnight. While victims were initially blamed for “using old cookers” or “neglecting maintenance,” Dr. Nareshkumar B. Handagama — a globally renowned chemical engineer, professor, former CEO of Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology - and his meticulously researched book, ‘A Sri Lankan Misadventure’, exposes the shocking truth: the explosions were a manmade disaster fuelled by corporate greed, regulatory negligence, complicit indifference and governmental wilful ignorance.

Ignoring physics and the deadly consequences

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), used in millions of Sri Lankan kitchens, is typically a mix of propane and butane. For 50 years, Sri Lanka's standard was 20% propane and 80% butane. This ratio wasn’t arbitrary; it was carefully matched to the safety ratings of regulators, valves, hoses, and cookers designed to handle the resulting pressure inside gas cylinders (around 54 psi at typical Sri Lankan temperatures).

Handagama demonstrates through rigorous thermodynamic modelling what happened next. Sometime in late 2021, without warning or safety testing, the major LPG suppliers (state-owned Litro Gas and private LAUGFS Gas) changed the mixture to 50% propane and 50% butane.

Why does this matter? Propane has a much higher vapour pressure than butane. The 50:50 mix dramatically increased the pressure inside the cylinders. At 32°C (the Sri Lanka’s common ambient temperature), the pressure jumped from the safe 54 psi to a dangerous 89.4 psi.

The result, obviously, was fatal. This step-surge in pressure overwhelmed the existing infrastructure: Regulators (designed for 54 psi) failed, valves and seals leaked, hoses (especially older ones) ruptured, and cooker components couldn't contain the flow.