BR fire blast injures one
Lebogang Mosikare | Friday March 23, 2018 16:09
The blast was heard at nearby locations of Area W, Riverside, Monarch and White City. According to the communications manager of BR, Sereo Thabeng, at least one person was injured when the incident occurred, but there were no fatalities.
“The injured person was taken to hospital for medical attention,” Thabeng said. Asked what caused the incident, Thabeng explained that BR had outsourced a job of transferring fuel from one tanker to another to a private contractor.
“The transfer of fuel was necessary for offloading purposes at the customer depot. The fire incident occurred when the contractor was transferring fuel”. However, Thabeng said as per safety requirements, investigations have been started to corroborate what caused the fire and find out the monetary value of the explosion.
The explosion nearly caused massive damage at the depot as the tanker that exploded was connected to other tankers that also contained fuel in a built-up area near the ticket office. Firefighters managed to contain the fire before it went out of control.
The fire sent nearby airtime and food sellers scurrying for cover and safety. They only returned after firefighters extinguished the flames.