South Africa counts damage, death by tanker truck explosion

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa was coming to grips Sunday with the full extent of the destruction and deaths caused by a Christmas Eve tanker truck explosion near Johannesburg as officials reported the death toll rising to 15.
The truck was carrying gas when it got stuck under a low-lying bridge in the town of Boksburg, on Saturday, sparking flames. As firefighters worked to extinguish the flames the tanker exploded, according to emergency services officials.
“Yesterday (Saturday), the death toll was at 10 people and now we are sitting at 15 as of this morning,” Joe Phaahla told reporters at Tambo Memorial Hospital.
A “fire bomb” from the explosion substantially damaged Tambo Memorial Hospital, located about 100 meters (110 yards) away, authorities said.
Thirty-seven people were injured, including 24 patients and 13 staff members who were in the hospital’s accident and emergency unit at the time of the blast.
They “sustained severe burns and have been diverted to neighboring hospitals,” Phaahla said.
Others were hit by shattered glass, he added, while some were hurt as they were in the parking lot or in front of the hospital.
“We send our deepest condolences for the families that lost their loved ones,” he said.
The health minister said the blast severely damaged the hospital’s accident and emergency unit and X-ray departments.
“The roof was damaged, ceilings fell, windows broken, and other equipment damaged,” Phaahla said.
On most of the hospital’s floors, windows had shattered, he added.
Several houses and vehicles were also damaged by the explosion, according to officials.
Residents who had gathered to see the burning truck fled from the explosion, some with their clothes burned off, witnesses told the News24 news website. At least 321 injured people were taken to the damaged hospital, though some were later transferred to other Johannesburg-area hospitals.
Videos on social media showed a huge fireball under the bridge, which the tanker appeared to have been too high to go under.
It was carrying 60,000 liters of LPG, which is used especially in cooking and gas stoves, and had come from the southeast of the country. It was en route to Botswana from South Africa’s Indian Ocean port of Richards Bay, said officials. Questions were being asked about why the tanker was on an indirect local route and not on a major highway.
The incident will be investigated, said Tania Campbell, the mayor of Ekurhuleni, the municipality which includes Boksburg.
Witness Jean Marie Booysen described on Saturday how she felt a “huge jolt” in 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 said she later learned 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.”
“A fireball in the sky,” is how resident Rolf Bjornstad described the explosion to News24.
“There was heat coming into the house. I thought of my wife, kids, and helping the affected people,” he said.
Another witness named William, who did not give his surname, said people nearby had felt the blast.
“I think I was 50 meters (164 feet) away from the scene... We did burn behind our backs,” he said.
(With AFP and AP)