Johannesburg - A blaring false fire alarm sent passengers into panic mode at the Sandton Gautrain station on Friday morning as security hurriedly evacuated them from the building.
Confused and unaware of what was happening, some took to social media to vent their frustrations at around 8.30am.
“We are told to evacuate the Sandton Gautrain building because an 'incident' has been reported,” tweeted @Tshwani at 08.39am.
A bomb, some suggested.
A “suspicious parcel”, others wrote.
“Bomb threat in Sandton City, Gautrain Station and surrounding companies get people and employees evacuated,” tweeted @DesperatZeejay.
Nearby buildings like the Alexandra Forbes building were also reportedly evacuated.
“Alexander Forbes building in Sandton near the Gautrain being evacuated. Looks like a bomb scare,” tweeted journalist @MandyWiener.
But while others like @zamedic tweeted “Confirmed Bomb Scare at the Gautrain Station in Sandton,” Gautrain spokesman Errol Braithwaite dismissed Friday morning’s events as just a “false fire alarm”.
“There’s no problem. The trains are running,” he said.
Alexandra Forbes brand Group Executive Lin Stevens said their building was never evacuated.
“Definitely not. Normally what would happen if there’s an emergency in our precinct we’ll alert each other... but (this morning) we were not evacuated,” she said.
The Star