Reports reaching the desk of Africa Today New York has it that the death toll from a fuel tanker explosion in a South African city east of Johannesburg has risen to 15. This was confirmed by the health minister on Monday.
Speaking to reporters at Tambo Memorial Hospital, Joe Phaahla said; ‘Yesterday (Saturday), the death toll was at 10 people and now we are sitting at 15 as of this morning’.
The tanker, transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), was caught beneath a bridge close to the hospital and houses on Saturday morning in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.
The minister said three hospital employees, two nurses and a driver, died later from severe burn injuries.
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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 neighbouring hospitals’, Phaahla said.
He added that others were hit by shattered glass, while some were hurt in the parking lot or in front of the hospital.
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 litres of LPG gas, which is used especially in cooking and gas stoves, and had come from the country’s southeast.
The health minister said the blast severely damaged the hospital’s accident and emergency unit and X-ray departments, adding the roof was also damaged.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that as of yesterday, no fewer than nine people have been confirmed dead and around 40 others were injured in Boksburg, a city east of Johannesburg, when a fuel tanker exploded, emergency services confirmed on Sunday.Africa Today News, New York gathered that the tanker was transporting liquefied petroleum gas, when it ‘got stuck under a bridge’ close to a hospital and houses.