CBD blast scenarios investigated
The City of Johannesburg's preliminary investigation has identified three possible scenarios which could have led to Wednesday's explosion in the CBD.
City manager Floyd Brink said the ignition of methane gas in underground storm water systems due to sewage ingress could have led to the blast.
He said the second possibility was the ignition of natural gas, mixed with oxygen in underground storm water drainage systems or service ducts and the ignition of gas from a gas pipe burst could have led to an explosion.
‘The third and last possibility is the ignition of gas from a gas pipe burst,’ Brink added.
TimesLIVE reports he said the source of gas in the service duct is unknown, with investigations to continue to try to locate the source in the next few days. Brink said the buildings adjacent to the collapsed road were inspected and there was no sign of failure detected.
As a result, the buildings were last night declared structurally sound for occupation. The city also announced all underground pipelines will be shut down to allow full inspection of existing infrastructure.
The existing underground pipeline on Bree Street (Lillian Ngoyi Street) includes infrastructure for Egoli Gas, Telkom, City Power, Joburg Water and Sasol.
All companies and public entities reported to the operations command centre that their infrastructure was in tact, but they have now all been told to restrict supply to ensure the necessary inspections to take.
IoL reports Brink said to mitigate against the services being shut down in the inner city, water tankers and mobile toilets would be provided for residents in the area.
And they are shutting down all underground infrastructure to allow technicians an opportunity to assess along the 400 metre pipeline which has been affected.
Earlier, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi ordered the JMPD and SAPS to fence off the area with barbed wire to limit the number of people in the area.
About 250 law enforcement officers have been deployed to the area.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
