Sniffing leads to explosion in Cape Dorset

Two Cape Dorset men, aged 20 and 39, are in southern hospital burn units after suffering severe burns on March 23.

The pair were apparently sniffing butane on the back porch of a multi-residential public housing unit in Cape Dorset, when a heating element on the porch is believed to ignited the explosion, said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Akavak.

“Both were taken to the health centre. One had received burns to his hands, arms and face. The other suffered burns to 40 per cent of the front of his body,” Akavak said.

The unit, #2302, has since been barricaded with plywood and the entrance taped off.

No one has been charged to date, he said, although the investigation is ongoing.

Although sources in the community told Nunatsiaq News that the two men were using fluid from a lighter to extract oil resin from marijuana stems when then explosion occurred, the incident appeared to be a “fairly straightforward” incident involving sniffing, Akavak said.