Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela says it is not easy for police or emergency services to gain access to the Angelo informal settlement in Boksburg.
This after 17 people lost their lives after nitrate oxide leaked on Wednesday night at the informal settlement situated in Ekurhuleni.
Eleven others have been hospitalised. Mawela says the state of the informal settlement results in a delay in police response time.
“It’s not only difficult for the police to access the area but for all the emergency services because even the ambulance, even the fire fighters cannot even enter this particular space. It affects our response time. The communities here complain that you call the police, they take time to respond. Obviously, there’s no address. There’s no street name. There’s no lighting, it is congested. So, the living conditions for the people here, so bad and if the living conditions are like this, it makes the criminals to also come and harbor in that particular space. So, it is conducive for criminals to come and stay in that particular area.”
Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended his condolences to the families of the 17 people, including three children who passed away.
Apparently, illegal miners who live in the community, clean and refine gold with gas cylinders. The cause of the leak is unknown and is being investigated.
