Fire disaster caused by LPG tanker explosion at Lice in Diyarbakır (Turkey): July 21, 2014

A disaster can be defined as a situation where the affected society cannot overcome its own resources. Our aim was to present the case of a fire disaster caused by a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker-based explosion on the Diyarbakır-Bingöl road in Lice to determine the various kinds of challenges and patient groups that an emergency department faces and to discuss more effective interventions for similar disasters. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. To find out the factors that affected mortality, we investigated the patient conditions presented at the time of admission. Among 69 patients included in the study, 62 were male (89.9%) and seven were female (10.1%). The average age of patients was 32.10±14.01 years, and the burn percentage was 51.1±32.2. One patient died during the first response, and a total of 34 patients (49.3%) died during the patient follow-up. Factors statistically related to mortality were determined to be inclusion in the severe burn group, presence of inhalation injuries, use of central venous catheter on patients, application of fasciotomy, presence of a tracheostomy opening, use of endotracheal intubation and sedoanalgesia, and transfer to centers outside the city (p-values <0.001, <0.001, <0.001, <0.001, <0.001, <0.001, 0.001, and 0.003, respectively). In conclusion, although fire disasters caused by LPG tanker explosions are rare, the frequency of such disasters will increase with the increase in LPG use. The factors affecting mortality should be determined to decrease mortality. We recommend that all personnel members who engage in work related to LPG from production to use, in addition to rescue and first-response personnel, be trained comprehensively and that advanced technological fire equipment be used to prevent such disasters.