The truck caught fire after getting stuck under a bridge and then exploded near the OR Tambo Memorial Hospital.
Graphic Visuals:
Horrific videos are emerging from the scene [Too horrific to share]…our thoughts are with all those killed and injured and those attending to the multiple victims! #RIP #EMS https://t.co/P9FWavknsf
— Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) December 24, 2022
Scores of people, including firefighters that were attending to the scene, have been injured. This resident witnessed the explosion and said they tried to warn on lookers not to get close to the burning truck.
“We heard an explosion and another two to three seconds later another two explosions, bang bang. And I saw there was a truck stuck under the bridge and two cars that were on fire. We saw people gathering around there and we were trying to move them because it is gas and it’s dangerous. The flames were bigger and we saw the firetruck reversing because they knew what was about to happen. There was a massive impact like boom and it threw me against my bakkie. The bakkie got damaged. Another few over my bakkie. What we saw here, a scene in the movies.”
Update from the scene:
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi will visit the site.
Co-operative Governance, Transport and Logistics and Infrastructure Development MEC Mzi Khumalo, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela and Lebogang Maile will accompany Lesufi.
Gauteng Emergency Services have been dispatched to the site.
