Joburg tunnel fire: Assessments underway to establish the cause of fire

This follows the underground fire along the M1 near the Johannesburg CBD on Wednesday.

The blaze was reported in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

A cloud of dark smoke covered a large section of the road.

Preliminary investigations found that a cable connecting the Braamfontein substation to the Fordsburg substation caught fire due to suspected cable theft and vandalism.

This after the utilities team recovered tools such as hacksaw, cutter, screw drivers, normally used during vandalism and theft and a cellphone was also recovered from the site of the fire.

City Power spokesperson Issac Mangena says the Braamfontein, Newtown, and Parktown areas are still without electricity.

"We expect to start the work mid-morning on Thursday, which will include clearing the rubble, assess the extent of the damaged electrical infrastructure - the outcome of which will determine the repairs and restoration plans, and ETR.

"Meanwhile, our technicians are also working on alternatives to see if some of the areas can not be back-fed through our Fort and Bree substations nearby."

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