Johannesburg - City of Johannesburg city manager Floyd Brink says he is relieved that the fire incident following the explosion of an Egoli Gas truck has not resulted in the loss of life.
This comes after five people were moderately injured and Johannesburg Emergency Services were dispatched to the scene after an Egoli Gas truck caught fire in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Tuesday afternoon.
The cause of the fire is still unclear, but City of Johannesburg Emergency Services Management (EMS) spokesperson Nana Radebe-Kgiba confirmed that at least five people were rushed to the hospital to be treated for minor to moderate injuries.
Parts of Braamfontein were cordoned off for a few hours as officials attended to the fire, resulting in stagnant traffic.
According to emergency services, the explosion happened just after 3pm on Tuesday afternoon. People have been urged to avoid the area.
“A truck on fire has been reported as an Egoli [gas] truck that is on fire. We have vehicles that just arrived on scene, and we will give further details as soon as we know and do investigations of what started the fire,” Radebe-Kgiba said.
Brink, who was on the scene with the mayor of the city, Kabelo Gwamanda, as well as MMC for transport, Kenny Kunene, and MMC for public safety, Dr Mgcini Ntshwaku, said they will await a report from Egoli Gas to inform them on the cause of the fire.
He said he was glad that the city was not directly responsible for this explosion, as it happened while the gas company was conducting maintenance services on its infrastructure.
“I am glad that this is not our issue. I am happy that our guys responded in time, and within 15 minutes the fire was out. The fire has been cleared, and now we are sending Joburg Water to inspect because there is a leak.
“It will be Egoli Gas and not the city who will decide what is going to happen in terms of repairing the affected parts of the building. We are waiting for a final report from Egoli Gas for that to happen, and the liability and other things will most probably be on their side,” Brink said.
The Star