Dubai gas cylinder blast victim had lost brother, was family's sole support, says relative

Dubai: His sisters had already lost one brother less than two years ago. Now, they have lost him: Nkeng Boris, the Cameroonian mechanic killed in the gas cylinder blast off Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai on August 3.

Boris, 29, is now being remembered as the man who held what remained of his family together after his brother’s passing.

As reported first by Gulf News, Boris was one of two people killed when a gas cylinder exploded following a fire on the premises of a car showroom on the day.

The Consulate General of Cameroon in Dubai had confirmed his identity on Thursday, days after the blast, following formal identification of his body, which had been held at the morgue in Dubai Police headquarters.

Boris had lived in the UAE since 2019 and worked as an auto mechanic, a job he approached with what those close to him describe as genuine passion.

Nkeng Lionel, who had earlier reached out to Gulf News describing Boris as his brother while anxiously trying to trace him after the blast, has since clarified that he is in fact a relative, not Boris's biological sibling.

Boris's only blood brother had died on September 27, 2024, after a short illness. He left behind a son, revealed Lionel.

He said Boris was the last of five children born to the family: two brothers and three sisters.

With both parents already deceased and his only biological brother gone, he was survived by his three sisters, who now lean on the wider family for support, according to Lionel.

He said Boris had effectively become the one holding his family's finances together, and his sudden death has left an anxious question hanging over relatives back home: what happens now that the person who carried that responsibility is gone.

"The sisters are trying to hold on through the grief, but it is not easy," Lionel wrote in an email.

He said Boris would have turned 30 on August 8. He was not yet married, but he had a fiancée based in Buea in Cameroon, Lionel revealed.

He said the couple had been planning to wed by the end of this year. That milestone will not happen now.

Those who knew Boris describe him as a loving, caring and respectful man who was also hard-working and jovial.

He is remembered for his humility, selflessness and resilience, as well as for a good heart that was always ready to help in whatever small way he could. Friends and family recall, above all, his sense of fun. He had a gift for making people around him laugh, Lionel recalled.

As reported earlier by Gulf News, the blast had also killed Indian expat Shijin Paul, 27, from the south Indian state of Kerala, who worked at the showroom as a multimedia marketing specialist.

He had got married earlier last year and joined the company only in November.

Both the Indian and Cameroonian consulates in Dubai had said they were extending support for the repatriation of the victims’ mortal remains.