‘Sulphur smell’ has Pretoria residents worried, as some complain of headaches

In one tweet, Gauteng Weather said that the air pollution was coming from either Emalahleni or Secunda.

A strange dark cloud smelling of sulphur in the area had Tshwane residents concerned. Picture: Martin van Niekerk

“A strange dark cloud smelling of sulphur” in the area had Pretoria residents abuzz on social media over the weekend.

This as several residents complained of the smell and cloud that seemed to have lingered until Monday.

READ UPDATE: Smell of ‘rotten eggs’ over Gauteng will go away soon – air quality officer

Many believed the cloud to be pollution emanating from Mpumalanga.

Getting a number of reports of very bad air pollution in Johannesburg today. @tWeatherSA is reporting a sulphur smell from the east. Is it coming from @SasolSA‘s Secunda plant? #DeadlyAir pic.twitter.com/BYPT9o48Uq

— Centre for Environmental Rights (@CentreEnvRights) February 13, 2021

“Does anyone else smell sulphur on the air? It’s giving me a headache of note,” posted resident David John Newton on Facebook.

“I’m checking again what’s causing the sulphur dioxide smell and hazy weather conditions,” posted Graeme Preston on the East Rand weather group at around 10:15 on Saturday morning.

“Current air quality levels: 154. Unhealthy air quality. Sulphur dioxide levels: 14. Average. The tropical depression in the Mozambique channel is changing the wind direction because our wind doesn’t normally come from the south-east direction.”

Tebogo Ngoatoana, another Pretoria resident, also believed the smell may have originated from Mpumalanga. “Apparently it’s originating from Mpumalanga’s industrial areas,” he tweeted.

???? SULPHUR SMELL UPDATE: SE’ly winds point to stench coming from Mpumalanga direction, possibly Emalahleni or Secunda. MP a pollution hotpspot due to large industrial and electrical plants in these areas, so smell may emanate from there | ????Windy pic.twitter.com/ZhUP0J32VZ

— Gauteng Weather (@tWeatherSA) February 13, 2021

In one tweet, Gauteng Weather said that the air pollution was coming from either Emalahleni or Secunda.

“South-easterly winds point to stench coming from Mpumalanga’s direction. The province is a pollution hotspot due to large industrial and electrical plants in the area,” the tweet read.

The SA Weather Service, however, could not confirm the smell.This article was republished from Rekord East with permission