The number of affected and potential claimants from South Africa’s Christmas Eve gas tanker blast in Boksburg has risen to 80.
The details of each claimant, as well as ancillary information regarding the claims, are being collected, and it is expected that pleadings will be prepared in the middle of 2023.
An attorney at RH Lawyers Incorporated, which represents the swelling number of class action claimants, Franklin Mbiriri, told Freight News that legal preparations on behalf of claimants had been a complex and demanding process.
However, most of the preparatory work to launch legal proceedings had now been completed.
Individual files have been created for each claimant according to the damages claimable.Claimants will seek compensation for past and future loss of income, past and future medical expenses, and general damages for pain and suffering.
"We are still investigating, and our counsel team is finalising the drafting of the particulars of claims. We anticipate that such documents should be prepared by the end of June – if not sooner.
“Filing at the relevant court will occur at a later stage to be determined," Mbiriri said.
Apart from the claimants, the firm had identified multiple key witnesses who can attest to the events that occurred before, during, and after the tanker exploded.
"We will notify the parties potentially liable of the intended lawsuit as soon as the finalisation of our fact-finding exercise is complete. Letters requesting further information from the parties potentially liable have been sent out, and we are awaiting responses," Mbiriri added.
They have not received the docket from the investigating officer as yet. It will likely be ready by the end of June and could contain further information and evidence that can be used to establish their case.
The total amount of the claims has not yet been established. The tanker's trip from Richards Bay to Gaborone in Botswana was undertaken by multiple parties, which meant that a number of companies were involved, complicating matters further. The transport company involved in the incident was Infinite Fleet Transport, but at least four other entities could be held liable for the incident.
This has led to complications with establishing details about elements such as any insurance and which party secured such insurance for transporting 60 000 litres of liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
Even the driver was not employed by the company that won the contract to move the load but was an employee of another company.
The gas explosion on 24 December occurred when a tanker travelling along Hospital Road, close to OR Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg, attempted to pass under a railway bridge and got stuck, damaging its tanker trailer.
The ensuing gas leak was attended to by rescue workers when the tanker exploded.
The blast seriously damaged the hospital, bridge and railway infrastructure, vehicles that were backed up behind it, and killed 41 people while injuring many.
