A LOUD boom shook windows as far away as the Bluff and Athlone Park as an explosion rocked Sapref Refinery in Prospecton on Friday, 17 April.
Some residents reported four loud bangs during the night that sounded like thunder at about 9.50pm. The explosion apparently took place near the central control room, when a truck was loading product from a transfer pipeline. This could not be confirmed with the refinery.
Emergency services attended the scene and at least three people were injured either by the explosion or resultant fire, and taken to hospital. One of the injured succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, 19 April. The other two are in a stable condition in hospital.
A woman in Marine Drive on the Bluff described being woken by the windows of her home being shaken by the impact of an explosion.
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance’s (SDCEA) Desmond D’Sa was on the scene of the explosion, on the Merebank side of the Umlaas canal. He saw a huge fire at the pipeline.
“We are living with one eye open at all times. Action needs to be taken and we need an emergency plan for situations like these. We were already calling for access to information on the local refineries because we need to know how safe we are,” said D’Sa.
“With so many explosions and fires in the South Durban Basin (SDB) over the years, there needs to be action. The full book needs to be thrown at them, if they’re found to be guilty of misconduct. Officials have failed us in the past in this regard and we now need an independent investigation.
Information needs to be given on the maintenance and inspection of these pipelines so we know how this kind of incident could happen,” he added.
Sapref communications manager, Cindy Govender said in the wake of the incident the refinery will bring forward a planned site shutdown to this week and a full investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.
Meanwhile, the Bluff Alliance (BA) has called for an urgent meeting between the SDB Area Based Management office, SAPS, Metro Police, municipal officials and councillors to pinpoint areas of safety and to develop an evacuation plan.
“We need a plan in place just in case we have explosions and fires that run out of control. We are living on a time bomb with these tanks and with the pipelines running underground through our suburb,” said BA member, Ivor Aylward.
