FRIDAY, 1.30PM
EXPLOSIVES and chemicals giant AECI has been found causally negligent in relation to the huge fire at its Somerset West sulphur stockpile on December 16 1995.
The Desai commission of inquiry into the fire published its report on Thursday, in which it noted that since the stockpile’s establishment in 1967 to the time of the fire in December 1995, AECI took no steps to assess the fire risk or put precautionary measures into place.
In his report to Environment Minister Pallo Jordaan, Judge Siraj Desai said that, in terms of safety of the stockpile and surrounding communities, AECI or its subsidiary AOS had simply forgotten about the pile and had allowed it to contaminate the surrounding area without check.
The commission found that between December 13 and 16 1995, there were five fires involving the sulphur pile. The last four fires were caused by reignition of hot spots caused by the previous fires, and the final fire on December 16 led to the evacuation of nearby Macassar.
On December 16, 7 250 tons of sulphur was burned, producing about 14 500 tons of toxic sulphur dioxide, which was released into the atmosphere. Several people died after inhaling toxic fumes and local farmers suffered huge crop losses as a result of acid rain.