City Power services in Johannesburg CBD are affected by the explosion that happened yesterday with the entity saying it will not respond to calls in the area until it has been declared safe. Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi says that one person was killed and 48 injured in the blast.

This morning Daily Maverick reported that Egoli Gas says there was no drop in pressure in their pipelines, meaning that they are still intact.

Lesufi told News24 that officials still suspect gas to be linked to the blast and several institutions dealing with gas and underground work have been called in to assist. News24’s Ntwaage Seleka reported that there is still a noticeable smell of gas on the scene.

“Bree, Braamfontein and Johnware substations are off until the joint command ceam comprising the emergency services, disaster management and other City of Johannesburg and provincial units have given the go-ahead,” Isaac Mangena, City Power spokesperson, said last night.

Mangena said preliminary assessments do not look like the three substations were affected immediately after the explosion at about 17.30 as power in some areas was still on.

Bree substation is a few metres away from the area with the huge impact, and the suspicion is that its structural integrity may have been affected.

Also Read: Watch: Several injured as explosion rocks Bree Street in Johannesburg

“Our team of engineers and technicians are on site doing assessments and tests on the network to get the extent of the impact on the electricity infrastructure.”

Mangena told media that one City Power employee was injured during the explosion on her way to work, and she is one of those hospitalised.

“Our teams will not be responding to outage calls in the CBD until the area has been declared safe to access and work,” said Mangena.