Exploding beer keg kills man and his friend celebrating his birthday

A man and his friend celebrating his birthday were killed when a beer keg exploded during the party in Brazil.

Valdeir dos Santos Ferreira, 38, and Julio Cesar Venancio, 39, were installing the beer keg in the backyard of a home in Sao Joao de Meriti in the state of Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.

The keg supplier had failed to assemble the equipment, and the two victims were doing it on their own when it suddenly exploded, according to reports.

Ferreira, who was celebrating his birthday that day, died at the scene.

Venancio was taken to the Nova Iguacu General Hospital, but died two days later.

Julio Cesar Venancio was taken to the Nova Iguacu General Hospital, but died two days later 

Specialised draft beer trader Rodrigo Kaminski told local media that a failure of the valve or the barrel’s CO₂ regulator may have caused the explosion.

He said: ‘These two components have a great security value and must be valid.

‘From the photos I saw of the case, it seems to me that it was an old keg, which should have already been scrapped.

‘It may not even have had a safety valve to prevent excess pressure.

‘Perhaps too much CO₂ entered the keg. But only forensics will be able to confirm what actually happened.’

The police said that they are investigating the case and the cause of the explosion is yet to be determined.

In May, a Dutchman died from his injuries after a steel petanque ball that had been left near a fire pit exploded during a bachelor party.

The explosion in the Belgian town of Stavelot, in Wallonia reportedly burned his entire face and embedded metal shards in his skull.

A neighbour said that he ‘thought that a gas bottle had exploded’ in the incident that left the 37-year-old unnamed tourist from Eindhoven seriously injured. 

It was alleged that the group of tourists, all aged in their mid-30s, placed petanque balls either in or under the fire pit, with one of them becoming so hot that it exploded.