UPDATE: According to Health Minister Joe Phaahla, the death toll following Saturday’s explosion has now risen to 15.

According to EWN, eight bodies were scattered just outside the O.R Tambo Memorial Hospital.

Three of the deceased have been identified as staff members.

A total of 37 people were admitted to hospital following the blast.

The Department of Labour is assessing the damage to the building, including its emergency section.

Phaahla advises local residents to make use of other healthcare facilities in the interim.


Paramedics have confirmed that ten people were killed after a fuel tanker exploded in Boksburg on Saturday morning.

The founder of Gift of the Givers, Imtiaz Sooliman, said in a statement that “the destruction is far greater than anyone can currently envisage.”


Also read: Breaking | Video: A gas tanker explosion in Boksburg kills 8, many injured


It is believed that the fuel tanker carrying liquefied petroleum caught fire after scraping the top of its roof while driving under a low-lying bridge on Railway Street, about 100 metres from Tambo Memorial Hospital.

Many of the injured were taken to the hospital’s casualty unit, but later patients had to be evacuated from the facility because of a structural collapse brought on by the explosion.

According to News24, the humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers has started assisting those affected.

Imtiaz Sooliman, the founder of Gift of the Givers, noted that a number of victims had sustained multiple injuries and varying degrees of burns in addition to the fatalities. A low bridge was also destroyed, and the casualty unit at Tambo Memorial Hospital, as well as homes and railroad tracks nearby, were damaged.

His organisation offered to provide additional medical supplies to hospitals that had to evacuate patients because of hospital damage, as well as non-medical support for firefighters, medical personnel, staff, patients, and families.

Sooliman stated that his organisation was purchasing burn dressing, antibiotics for sepsis, analgesia, anaesthetics, pain delivery pumps, cleaning agents, special nutritional feeds, nasogastric pumps, and related consumables to assist those in need.

As reported by News24, CEO Zenzo Ndabula of Tambo Memorial Hospital said that the explosion had damaged the emergency room and that patients had to be moved. In a statement, Ndabula said that some of the hospital staff were among the injured.

According to a statement released by Emer-G-Med EMS, six firefighters sustained injuries, and a fire engine was destroyed in the explosion.

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Picture: Emer-G-Med (Pty) Ltd / Facebook

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