A highly toxic gas – suspected to be used in illegal mining activities – has killed 16 people in an Ekurhuleni informal settlement.
The victims, including women and children, died after a gas leak. There were no injuries.
Ekurhuleni emergency services spokesperson William Ntladi said the gas cylinder was found in a shack at the Angelo informal settlement in Boksburg. It was unclear if the shack owner was among the dead.
Ntladi said at about 8pm they received a call about a gas cylinder that had exploded at the informal settlement.
“However, when we arrived at the informal settlement we discovered that the gas cylinder had not exploded. The cylinder had [instead] leaked gas, which was very toxic and it unfortunately this far killed 16 people – including women and children,” he said.
At the time of the interview, Ntladi could not confirm the number of women and children who had perished.
“[This is because] our search and rescue recovery team is busy doing the secondary search inside the shacks within the informal settlement,” he said.
Ntladi said their preliminary probe revealed that the gas was used for illegal mining activities.
“The [search] teams are still rolling out and we believe more information will come up as soon as the teams are coming out of the scene,” he added.
He said they were yet to identify the victims.
“Because it is a crime scene, we will wait for the photographers from the law enforcement to come on site from the SAPS forensics unit. Up until they have completed their part, in terms of preliminary investigations, we cannot move and identify the bodies at all,” said Ntladi.
He described the situation at the Angelo informal settlement as calm.
“…it is during the night now and many people don’t realise what is happening but losing 24 people at a go is quite bad. One death is one too many. And when you think about the illegal mining activity that was probably taking place here, one would start saying that these activities are actually illegal and lethal.”
