South African City officials confirm cause of last month’s explosion

The Johannesburg City has confirmed that the explosion that happened on the 19^th of July in Lilian Ngoyi Street was caused by methane gas.

Following the explosion some parts of the road within the street were torn apart, sending taxis and cars flying, killing 34-year-old Joseph Dumisane and injuring 48 others.

In addition, the City said it was going to take 18 months for the street to be repaired at an estimated cost of USD18 million.

“The delivery of this report marks the end of the immediate response work we reported on the previous encounter and paves way to our medium interventions which will include the restoration and repair work. Our rough estimate for repairs currently sits at R178 million. This estimate might change once we receive the detailed designs for the entire project.

A lot of lessons were learned following this unfortunate incident. We will also introduce continuous gas detection and alarms and gas detector sensor monitors for all staff working the tunnels regularly. Our tunnels design will be based on international relevant standards. Tunnel roof and sidewalls will be designed to withstand and depressurise with deflagration vents a 9.5 % methane explosion.

Suitable materials for the tunnel would be reinforced, concrete side walls and roofs designed for this over-pressure and release. At this stage, we remain confident that we are on the right path in our efforts to respond and recover from the incident and will once more implore the public to bear with us and to give us space to do all we must for the successful recovery of the site and services,” said City manager, Floyd Brink.