Joburg explosion: City management still uncertain on cause of gas blast

Joburg City management said it was still unclear what triggered a deadly underground gas explosion in the city centre.

City manager, Floyd Brink, gave an update on Wednesday on the progress of investigations into the explosion that rocked Joburg just over a week ago.

The blast during peak traffic claimed one life and injured 48 others, most of whom have since been discharged from hospital.

Thirty-seven vehicles, most of them minibus taxis, were also damaged during the explosion, which destroyed sections of Bree and Rissik streets.

Cause of explosion

Brink said the cause of the gas explosion is yet to be determined.

“Investigations are still inconclusive on the cause of the explosion and what may have ignited the gas or the source of the gas in the underground tunnels.”

He said city was now waiting for laboratory results to identify the ignited gas type.

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Report

Brink also added that the City of Joburg has started compiling a report to the Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PMDC) in order to declare the explosion a local state of disaster.

“The declaration of the disaster is critical in order to allow us to assess the impact of the explosion on infrastructure and to cost the rehabilitation work required.

“We have mandated the Disaster Management Centre to commence with the processes and to finalise a report for submission to the PDMC within the next seven days,” he said.

New standards

Brink said the city will have to implement new standards of how it manages and lays out underground service lines and connections.

“Amongst the anomalies currently, we have gas pipelines running parallel to water lines. This is not ideal and as we prepare to restore Bree Street, our work will seek to set the standard of what should be the most suited, safe and appropriate layout of services infrastructure in a city like ours,” Brink said.

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