The remnants of Bree Street on Thursday morning, following what is believed to have been a gas explosion. Photos by Scott Peter Smith
Methane gas has been found to be the cause of the explosion that tore through Johannesburg’s Lilian Ngoyi Street, formerly known as Bree Street, on 19 July.
This is according to City of Johannesburg manager, Floyd Brink, who on Wednesday briefed the media alongside mayor Kabelo Gwamanda on new developments since the CBD blast, which left one person dead and dozens injured.
“The type of the gas that fueled the explosion is methane — we can say with certainty it is methane [that] travelled up towards the service tunnel from an unknown source to the crest near Von Brandis Street,” said Brink.
The explosion tore open a tar road on Lilian Ngoyi Street which saw taxis flying into the air and people running to safety.
Amid speculation of what could have been the cause of the explosion, Brink said the city ruled out an act of terrorism or interference with infrastructure from illegal miners.
“There was no terrorist action, zama zamas, cable theft or foul play by anybody at this particular point — that we could ot detect. All responses by our services and departments from the city were effective, they were compliant and there were no shortcomings that we had to address in that regard.”
The city also ruled out a piped gas leak from Egoli Gas, which was at first thought to be the cause of the explosion.
Egoli Gas announced just hours after the explosion that it was highly unlikely its reticulated natural gas pipelines were responsible for the blast.
“Egoli Gas has taken meticulous inspection and has ascertained that neither the Egoli Gas network nor any gas pipeline leak was the cause of the explosion. Our network has experienced no pressure loss which indicates the gas pipelines are intact,” it said at the time.
The damage from the blast is expected to amount to about R178 million, with R4 million already having been used to investigate the explosion and assist affected residents.
“We will apply the latest technology of preventing [explosions] by venting it because methane goes up, [but] if it was vented, then it wouldn’t be able to collect and get to a condition where it may explode,” said City of Johannesburg engineer, Johan Le Grange.
The mayor said the rebuilding and rehabilitation of former Bree Street must “set the standard for the management of underground infrastructure and roads” in order to fit in with the current administration’s vision of turning Johannesburg into a smart city.