Man suffers burns after pouring cleaner into drainage

A 28-year-old man suffered severe third-degree burns on his right arm after an explosion on pouring a drainage cleaner into a blocked kitchen sink. A month since the incident, Shifan Mohammad has undergone two operations but the scars will remain, says his doctor. "I have undergone immense pain and stress over the past month," Mohammad, a Sri Lankan, who works as a senior credit administrator at a bank, said. The incident happened in his Al Nahda apartment. Mohammad, along with his wife, Fatima, was trying to clear a blockage in their kitchen sink. They ordered a drain cleaner from the store downstairs. "The grocery [store] delivered a four-litre can containing drain cleaning liquid. Soon as I poured the liquid into the sink, it exploded on to my right arm." It also spilled onto his left arm and leg. ‘Highly concentrated' Fatima, also a bank employee, said they wanted to raise awareness to avoid such situations happening again. "The can says it contains sulphuric acid. But probably it is highly concentrated," she said, adding the family will file a complaint with Sharjah Municipality. Mohammad has been unable to work since the incident, she added. A second skin graft operation was performed a few days ago, Dr Mohan Rangaswamy, specialist plastic surgeon at Welcare Hospital, said, adding the incident raises concerns about whether such products should be sold at stores. "Mohammad has sustained deep third-degree, almost fourth-degree, burns on his right arm. Although the wound will heal, the scars will remain." Such products should only be sold to those licenced to handle them, he added. When Gulf News enquired at the store about the product, an employee said: "We do not sell such products. When we received the order, we bought it from a nearby shop and delivered it to the customer." A Sharjah Municipality official said: "We will get a sample of the product from the shop and check whether all the products are faulty or whether it was a certain batch that was defective. It will then be sent to the municipality laboratory and if the report concludes that the level of acidic concentration is very high and hazardous, the product will then be removed from the market." The supplier of the product could not be reached.