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A suspected gasoline explosion rocked South Africa’s largest metropolis on Wednesday, leaving at the very least 1 particular person lifeless and dozens injured.
Authorities in Johannesburg are investigating the reason for an explosion that resulted within the loss of life of a person whose physique was discovered by firefighters beneath a car.
Along with the person’s loss of life, at the very least 48 individuals are mentioned to have been injured.
The reason for the blast throughout night rush hour Wednesday in downtown Johannesburg stays unclear. The corporate that provides gasoline to that a part of the town mentioned it didn’t consider its underground pipelines had been accountable, as authorities first thought.
![South Africa explosion](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/dad8b281-sa2.jpg)
One particular person is lifeless and dozens are injured after a suspected gasoline explosion in South Africa. (Reuters)
An investigation is underway as metropolis authorities introduced in specialists to find out what different underground pipes or cables there have been within the space and to find out if there was a menace of one other explosion or gasoline leak.
“We’re nonetheless trying to find the supply,” mentioned Panyaza Lesufi, the premier of the Gauteng province, the place Johannesburg is positioned.
Authorities estimated that an space overlaying 5 metropolis blocks was broken and at the very least six roads had been affected. Not less than 34 automobiles had been broken, with a few of them flipped on their sides or mendacity on prime of different automobiles. Others had tumbled into gaping crevices that appeared in the midst of roads because the injury resembled a scene from an apocalyptic film.
![South Africa explosion](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/sa1.jpg)
South African authorities are investigating the reason for the blast. (Reuters)
The explosion occurred simply earlier than 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Lesufi mentioned, simply as many individuals had been gathering on the streets to catch a minibus taxi residence, one among South Africa’s most typical commuting methods. A lot of the broken automobiles had been minibus taxis. Eyewitnesses mentioned some folks had been sitting within the buses when the explosion threw them into the air.
One man, who didn’t give his title, advised tv station eNCA that he was in his automobile when he heard, “an enormous sound. The subsequent factor, I used to be within the air and my automobile was overturning.”
He mentioned he was shaken however unharmed.
The blast comes just some weeks after one other explosion, on the jap outskirts of Johannesburg, killed 17 people together with three youngsters ageS 1, 5 and 15.
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![South Africa explosion](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/sa3.jpg)
Minibus taxis lie on their facet after being blown on the scene of a gasoline explosion downtown Johannesburg on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. Search and rescue officers ordered residents in close by buildings to evacuate the realm. The world the place the explosion occurred was cordoned off. (AP Picture/Shiraaz Mohamed)
Authorities have blamed that explosion on a poisonous gasoline leak allegedly associated to an illegal gold processing operation.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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