Explosion at outreach event under investigation after 18 people injured in Spain
Demonstration with liquid nitrogen and boiling water went horribly wrong at the University of Girona’s European Research Night
Eighteen people were injured, 10 of them children, by an explosion at a science outreach event in Girona, Spain on 30 September. The accident – which involved the release of nitrogen gas and water vapour – happened during one of the demonstrations on European Research Night, co-organised by the local university. All those injured had been discharged from hospital three days later.
The event has a huge tradition in Girona, according to Marcel Swart, theoretical chemist and director of the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis (IQCC). ‘It’s wonderful to see the excitement of the kids,’ he says. ‘Since I started working [here] in 2006 … this has been organised every year, with great success.’ Among other activities, this year children could use virtual reality headsets to step inside enzymes and navigate their active sites.