Why would anyone weld a rim with a tire on it? This isn't a freak accident. You're supposed to remove the from the rim first, and it's not just for safety.
Freaks and accidents can be a deadly mix.
Correction on the last one. "You're supposed to remove the tire from the rim first, and it's not just for safety."
I can't even see welding a rim with a flat tire on it. The heat would damage the rubber.
The article doesn't state what kind of rim it was but I have a hunch as to what happened. Sometimes to get a tubless tire to seal gasoline is used to cause a snall explosian so to speak to get the tire to seal on the rim. If there was still remnants of gasoline inside the tire the torch may have ignited it even with the core removed from the stem.
Allah said it was ok.
Had he removed the valve core, he probably would have been okay unless he set the rubber on fire and burned his face off.