By: Natasha Archary
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says 3 manholes are at the focus of the devastating Johannesburg CBD explosion which ripped through the city center on Wednesday afternoon, 19 July.
Addressing media about the preliminary investigation into the blast that claimed the life of one person, with 48 others injured, Lesufi said all institutions that have infrastructure underground in the CBD have been called in to determine what went wrong.
This includes Telkom, Sasol, City Power and Egoli Gas, despite the latter stating it was unlikely the explosion was caused by any of its gas pipelines running across the servitude of roads in the CBD.
According to Lesufi the CBD blast on Wednesday is similar to an incident hat occurred in 2010 in Yeoville.
“A preliminary report by the Department of Labour indicates there may be similarities to an incident that happened in 2010. The Department indicates that the nature of gas when it exploded, in what is known as Telkom Towers is similar to what happened here. On that basis, there are 3 manholes that are an interest to investigations.
The explosion came through those 3 manholes and the department of labour, are of the view, from their preliminary reports that there are certain institutions that they want to interview further.
They’ve analyzed the nature of the explosion and they also feel that there is a gas that they still want to experiment, so that they can tell us the type of gas that they are sensing is responsible.”
Lesufi says Lillian Ngoyi Street, formally known as Bree is still being treated as unsafe until all reports are finalised.
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