At least 16 dead after gas leak in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – At least 16 people have been killed in a gas leak at an informal residential camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg, police said on Wednesday.

An emergency official said the deaths were the result of a gas bottle leak at the encampment, the informal Angelo settlement, near the South African town of Boksburg. South African police said two other people were taken to hospital for treatment, according to The Associated Press.

Local news reports identified the gas as a nitrate oxide.

There was some discrepancy over the death toll, with emergency services officials saying as many as 24 people had been killed. The reason for the different death tolls was not immediately clear.

That says a spokesman for the emergency services, William Ntladi local news channels that officials had received a call about an explosion at about 8 p.m. local time, but instead found that there had been a leak.

The gas cylinder was found in a cabin in the settlement, he said, adding that women and children were among the dead. The type of gas that was in the cylinder is often associated with illegal mining.

The gas leak was later plugged and rescue teams searched a 100m radius around the cylinder to check for more casualties, The AP said, citing Mr Ntladi.

He said the victims had not yet been identified.

In December, Boksburg, a community about 30 minutes east of Johannesburg, was the site of an explosion of a gas tanker which killed at least 10 people, injured at least 60 others, and left behind a scene that one person likened to a “war zone”, with twisted vehicles, clothes melting into people’s bodies, and bystanders missing limbs.

The tanker became stuck under a low overpass and exploded with a blast that was felt nearly half a mile away, officials said.