No lights and ‘the high smell of gas’ morning after the Joburg CBD explosion

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said while city officials are yet to determine the cause of a destructive explosion that rocked Bree Street in central Johannesburg, the smell of gas is lingering in the air.

The blast claimed the life of one person and injured at least 48 others on Wednesday night.

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

Gas explosion

While Egoli Gas said it is unlikely the explosion was caused by a gas pipeline or leak, Lesufi said the cause is yet to be determined.

“Environmental health is assessing the gas leaks. Even though Egoli Gas insists that it is not their pipeline, but you all know that is now common knowledge that there is a high smell of gas in the entire area.

“So, the teams from environmental health are assisting us to determine where this gas pipeline is,” Lesufi said.

Nigel Sibanda, The Citizen‘s photographer also said he was informed by officials on scene to wear face masks to protect himself from the gas odour.

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Body recovered

Lesufi added the body that was found on Thursday morning and has not yet been identified.

“We are trying to locate relatives and family members. So, we can confirm that we got one fatality. The body was discovered at Lilian Ngoyi Street, it was stuck underneath a car, when the team were handing over the cars to their owners.”

No electricity

Meanwhile, City Power said the power supply will remain off in the inner city following the explosion.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said electricity in the area is supplied from the Bree substation, which is a few meters from the explosion.

“The underground tunnels carrying City Power cables through Bree Street were damaged during the cave-in.”

Assessments

Mangena said the team is assessing the extent of the damage on the electricity infrastructure, with the hope that we will access some of the surface and underground areas.

“There is huge amounts of water gushing underground and starting to flood the Johnware substation, which is about 4km towards Newtown. Colleagues from Joburg Water have been notified to assist and are currently on site.

“Power supply to the businesses and residents within the Inner City will remain affected until an assessment is done and a go ahead is given by emergency services to test and switch on,” Mangena said.

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