Old gas line detected, but Joburg blast source still unconfi
City Manager Floyd Brink said further investigations have led to the discovery of an old active pipeline, however, the source of Wednesday’s explosion on Lillian Ngoyi streets was still unconfirmed by Friday.
Brink led a media briefing to give an update on developments on the blast that left a trail of destruction during brief traffic.
“I can indicate the news that just came in now is that they also detected and identified an old Johannesburg gas line that has been discovered to still be active and the work will commence to close and isolate that,” says Brink.
Technicians have been cautious not to trigger a secondary blast as it’s unclear where the gas leak originated. As a result, senior engineer Johan Le Grange confirmed all eGoli lines had been isolated adding the discovery of the old steel line was a “surprise”.
"That is active and flowing methane gas. We are not sure if it is connected to the eGoli line as part of the distribution to one of the clients, but they will isolate that as well and then it will be safe.”
He said in most areas the gas levels had depleted.
ZAMA ZAMAS NOT BEHIND THE EXPLOSION
Authorities dismissed claims the blast could have been caused by activities linked to illegal mining or vandalism on the underground infrastructure.
“There’s visual evidence that there’s nobody living down there. There’s a lot of water there. There’s no baggage, no people, no evidence of food, or any evidence of people working down there so we can exclude that in totality from this risk.
“The ignition was accidental; the cause is a gas explosion. It was gas that leaked. The source of the gas is what we are trying to determine,” Le Grange explained.
He also dismissed unfounded theories of a terrorist attack.
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