Delft police have registered an inquest for further investigation after an unknown woman was fatally hit on the head by a gas tank that was flung from a nearby informal scrapyard on Sunday afternoon.
The body of the unknown woman was found across the road from where people cut scrap metal, while the red oxygen tank lay a few metres away.
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The woman was walking along the road on the opposite side of the scrapyard when the freak accident occurred.
According to police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi, Delft police attended a complaint on Sunday and upon arrival at around 3:30pm, found the body.
‘The woman was alone when this happened, so we don’t know who she is and where she was going,’ resident Fundiswa Gona told IOL.
‘She was hit in the head, fell on the ground and died, but it took some time for her to die. She was in a lot of pain and part of her face was severely burnt. I guess the tank had a flame. What we know is that the scrapyard people were busy cutting the oxygen tank when it slipped from them and flew across the road.’
She added that the informal scrapyard closed shortly after the incident occurred.
‘They didn’t open [on Monday]. We don’t know if it was because of the death of the woman, but we are happy about the closure because we don’t know how it was allowed to operate for this long,’ said Gona.
‘We don’t understand how this scrapyard was opened in a residential area. Such establishments should be opened somewhere far from people.’
Another resident, Charlene Williams, told the publication that residents feel informal scrapyards need to be banned.
‘The authorities need to intervene, especially now after we have seen that it is dangerous for people. That woman was not walking past the people but was about 100m away, but the tank managed to hit her,’ said Williams.
‘What will happen next? Who will be killed next? Something must be done, we can’t be running away from bullets and also oxygen tanks flying around. This is not even a scrapyard because the person stands outside and cuts scrap.’
No arrests have been made as yet.
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Picture: Kat Wilcox / Pexels
