Letter: Boksburgers really pulled together in this tragedy

Janice Carter, Proud Boksburg Citizen, writes:

Christmas Eve was a dark day in Boksburg. The gas tanker that exploded under the low-lying bridge next to the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Plantation was something no one expected to happen the day before Christmas.

There was death, destruction, injury and damage to property. A city was ravaged into chaos.

Firemen needed to pull their own to safety, paramedics battled to get to the scene with the ongoing traffic jams of people struck in mayhem by the tradegy they were witnessing so close to Christmas.

But out of the fire, debris and chaos emerged the hope of the human race.

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Within 10 minutes of the first blast, fire fighters, paramedics and police were on the scene, chaos started, and CPFs, security companies and police services arrived to pull the masses back.

By the afternoon, community leaders, CPFs, local NPOs and individuals collected, delivered and distributed gallons of water, bags of fruit and all the services working were hydrated, fed and helped with what they needed.

Food was turned away and distributed elsewhere, purely because there was too much.

Volunteers showed that regardless of what the country thinks of Boksburg, our city, its services and its people will stand together.

Regardless of race, beliefs or gender, when a tragedy of this magnitude rocks her city, Boksburg knows her people are her best asset.

Today we lost family, loved ones and tomorrow will see empty seats around our Christmas tables, but we find ourselves living in a city so strong, so supportive, so very South African, where the spirit of ubuntu lives on.

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