By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
At least 17 people, including three children, died when toxic gas leaked from a cylinder at the Angelo squatter camp in Boksburg, East of Johannesburg.
Emergency services initially announced that as many as 24 people might be dead, But police and Gauteng Province premier Panyaza Lesufi later said the number of deaths had been confirmed as 17 after a recount of the bodies.
Lesufi says investigations were under way to determine how the leak happened and what type of gas was involved.
He was briefing the media on the latest updates following the incident.
“It was heartbreaking. I regretted why we had to go through that scene. It is something that we might need assistance with personally because the bodies were scatted everywhere,” said Lesufi.
“I want to thank our team because they knew exactly where each body was, and they knew exactly how that particular body arrived where it was. You could see that people were trying to run away from the scene, and they started to fall as they were trying to get to areas where they could escape.”
Lesufi said nine men, five women, and three children including a 1-year-old, were among the victims.
“The report that was sent this morning stated that in ward 12 there are three children, two of them aged four and the other is nine. In ward 16 we have one female and three males who are awake and breathing. In ward 20, we have got one female on oxygen awake and talking and there five others that were later admitted this morning. There is one who is on oxygen and there is one that passed on.”
Currently 10 people are hospitalised.
A spokesperson for the Disaster and Emergency Management Services in Ekurhuleni municipality, where the disaster occurred, linked it to illegal mining.
“Whether the illegal miners are among the deceased, that is not yet known,” William Ntladi said, which gave no further details.
Ekurhuleni mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana, said the city would treat the incident as a priority. He also called on residents to report illegal mining.
“We are pleading with the communities to report these illegal operations that are happening in their communities because we have now witnessed the danger of this thing. They must report them to the police because we don’t want any other incident like this to happen.”
The incident comes seven months after 37 people died as a result of a gas tanker explosion in Boksburg on 24 December 2022. Twelve were healthcare workers from Tambo Memorial Hospital.