Mourners and community members attend a memorial service, 24 June 2023, for the Boksburg explosion that killed 41 people when a fuel tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exploded underneath a railway bridge in a suburban area on 24 December 2022. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
On Saturday night, the Boksburg community of Plantation held an intimate night vigil in commemoration of the Christmas Eve gas tanker explosion.
The incident claimed 41 lives and scores of injuries. It’s been six months of silence after the initial promises of investigations, action and assistance.
But nothing has happened.
After rumblings of a municipal investigation, former mayor Tania Campbell went silent, the metro’s new leadership has also not commented on any outcome of its investigation.
Members of the public alleged that metro police, who should have been helping the fire department evacuate the area before the explosion, arrived two hours after the blast.
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Many believe this was why so many people died. The SA Police Service did not fare much better, they said.
Neither party has offered an explanation or comment.
Calls to emergency numbers by the trucking company’s control room also proved fruitless on the day, with the fire department deployed late.
But the Ekurhuleni municipality has remained mum.
Forensic investigator Stan Bezuidenhout called the event a “tragicomedy of errors”.
There’s also still no clarity about why the driver chose to proceed on this route when a washed-out sign, still legible at close quarters, indicated the height restriction of the railway bridge under which it became
stuck.
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There’s also still no explanation from the city on why the sign was neglected.
The driver’s fate remains a mystery.
After Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s initial instruction to arrest him as soon as possible, no charges were laid because no investigation had been completed.
He has allegedly returned to work and is driving hazardous material tankers again.
His employer, ISS, did not have a contactable spokesperson available by the time of filing this story.
The Citizen understands victims of the blast have taken legal counsel and are putting together a class action suit against all role players.