JOHANNESBURG — The demise toll from a gas tanker explosion in a South African metropolis east of Johannesburg has risen to fifteen, the well being minister mentioned Sunday.
“Yesterday [Saturday], the death toll was at 10 people and now we are sitting at 15 as of this morning,” Joe Phaahla informed reporters at Tambo Memorial Hospital.
The tanker, transporting liquefied petroleum fuel (LPG), was caught beneath a bridge near the hospital and homes on Saturday morning in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.
The minister mentioned three hospital staff, two nurses and a driver, died later from extreme burn accidents.
Thirty-seven folks have been injured, together with 24 sufferers and 13 employees members who have been within the hospital’s accident and emergency unit on the time of the blast.
They “sustained severe burns and have been diverted to neighboring hospitals,” Phaahla mentioned.
Others have been hit by shattered glass, he added, whereas some have been harm as they have been within the car parking zone or in entrance of the hospital.
“We send our deepest condolences for the families that lost their loved ones,” he mentioned.
Damaged roof, damaged home windows
Videos on social media confirmed an enormous fireball underneath the bridge, which the tanker appeared to have been too excessive to go underneath.
It was carrying 60,000 liters of LPG, which is used particularly in cooking and fuel stoves, and had come from the southeast of the nation.
The well being minister mentioned the blast severely broken the hospital’s accident and emergency unit and X-ray departments.
“The roof was damaged, ceilings fell, windows broken, and other equipment damaged,” Phaahla mentioned.
On a lot of the hospital’s flooring, home windows had shattered, he added.
Witness Jean Marie Booysen described on Saturday how she felt a “huge jolt” within the early hours of the morning, shortly after 6:30 a.m. (0430 GMT).
“I went upstairs to have my cup of tea and I saw immense flames, I thought a house was on fire.”
She mentioned she later realized of the deaths of “two… here across the road, 16, the girl, and 25, the boy, who came and did my lawn every weekend for me.”
Another witness named William, who didn’t give his surname, mentioned folks close by had felt the blast.
“I think I was 50 meters away from the scene… We did burn behind our backs,” he mentioned. — AFP
