At least one person was killed and several others injured after a suspected gas explosion ripped open a road in South Africa’s Johannesburg on Wednesday evening, news agency Reuters reported. The incident, that was caught on camera, shows several vehicles parked on the street tumbling over, a crack formed on the road, and pedestrians running helter-skelter at the site of the blast.
The explosion happened at 5pm local time as many people were gathering on the street to catch a minibus taxi home. Several minibus taxis and other cars were lying on their sides or backs, some even on top of each other.
The cause of the explosion is yet to be ascertained. While gas leak is the suspected cause of the blast, it is yet be detected if it was from one of the underground pipes or from somewhere else.
However, the company that supplies gas to that part of the city ruled out the possibility of the underground pipelines being responsible for the accident.
A probe into the matter is underway as the city authorities brought in specialists to determine what other underground pipes or cables present in the area could have led to the blast and if there was a threat of another explosion or gas leak, reported news agency Associated Press.
The footage, captured in the country’s capital Johannesburg during rush hour on Wednesday, shows a line of minibuses blasted several metres into the air as the explosion ripped open a road.
People were evacuated from the area amid fears of a second explosion or that multi-story buildings in a rundown part of the city could collapse.