Telkom blast victim search called off
“It has been called off, it has been found there was no one under the rubble,” said spokesman Percy Morokane.
“That was information we got from the eye witnesses, but it was found to be false.”
Two people were injured.
“It was a massive explosion, within a kilometre radius there were windows that have been blown [out] and vehicles damaged. It shook the whole ground.” The explosion in the Telkom building happened after 8am on the corner of Hunter and Kenmere streets. It left a five-by-15m hole in the ground. A manhole cover was blown about 500m away.
“It is believed that there were two people in the vicinity. One was a Telkom employee in a very critical condition, the other was a woman who is being treated for shock.” Morokane said emergency workers were leaving the scene and the investigation would be turned over to Telkom.
“We are handing over the whole investigation to Telkom. They are calling their engineers to the scene.”
The company said the explosion was caused by an underground gas leakage, and not by a municipal transformer, as was earlier believed.
Telkom was relieved that both the injured were currently in a stable condition and receiving medical care at a Johannesburg hospital.
“Service restoration to affected voice, data, DSL and MCO (mobile cellular operator) links is now the highest company priority,” the company said in a statement.
Progress in this regard was being delayed because the building which houses Telkom’s Yeoville exchange had been declared unsafe by the Johannesburg fire department.
Loading ...