A 33-year-old man was seriously injured when chemicals at a packaging factory near Durban ignited on Wednesday.
Netcare spokesperson Chris Botha said the man had burns to 60% of his body and was airlifted to St Augustine’s hospital.
The blast occurred at Nampak Flexible Origin, a division of the packaging conglomerate Nampak.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known, but Durban metro fire divisional commander Roger Jones said: ”They had been decanting some chemicals and it ignited.”
He said an area of 20 square metres was engulfed in flames.
It was not immediately known which chemicals had been handled.
A Nampak employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the man had gone to a store room to pour some chemicals on his own. He said: ”The next moment he came out with flames. It was a horrible sight.”
Nineteen workers were injured in an explosion at a site adjacent to Sasol’s plant in Sasolburg on Tuesday. The explosion happened while chemicals were being transferred into a tanker. — Sapa