Joburg blast: 3 people remain in hospital, area remains ‘dangerous’
Of the 48 people injured during the explosion on Lilliam Ngoyi Street earlier this week, three remain in hospital.
One person was declared dead when his body was discovered beneath one of the vehicles that had overturned during the explosion.
Giving un update on Thursday, health officials at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital said most of the casualties treated at the facility had suffered injuries to their lower limbs.
Joburg City Manager, Floyd Brink confirmed on Friday evening that all but three people had been discharged after receiving medical attention at various facilities in the province.
Meanwhile, emergency services said they were working with technicians to see if there was indeed a missing child following the blast.
The Deputy Director for Fire and Rescue Services confirmed they had received reports of a child that reportedly went missing during the incident, however, no formal case of a missing person has been opened with the police.
“We are doing all in our power to try and search for the child. Working with SAPS we are trying to get more information from the siblings about whether the child is missing. We are working with the team to get footage because for now, it’s not safe to send any of our technicians underground.”
This was confirmed by the City Manager: “Any form of search and rescue can only start once we can do rubble removal, and the only time we can do rubble removal is once we have had the area safe by our technical teams.”
Brink said no heavy machinery could be brought onto the affected site, and all digging, and excavation were currently being done by hand.
Senior engineer, Johan le Grange has warned that the area remains dangerous and cautioned against standing too close to the cracks and crevices in the road as parts were still collapsing.
“The crack that is showing movement is no danger to the buildings, it’s about 50 m away from the building, but if you go there with a heavy vehicle or you stand close you may also slide in with it.”
More than 250 officers have been deployed to limit access and movement to the area, with Brink adding the area would be fenced off as it is expected to become a construction site once all investigations and the implementation of safety measures have been completed.
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