A firm of attorneys representing injured victims and families of the 41 people who died in the deadly Christmas Eve gas tanker blast in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, is now investigating litigation against potentially liable parties.
RH Lawyers Incorporated associate attorney, Franklin Mbiriri, said the firm was currently representing 51 clients.
Mbiriri said the firm’s investigation team was gathering as much information as possible regarding the likely cause of the accident and waiting to receive the docket from the Boksburg SAPS.
“We are currently consulting with clients and awaiting several documents and evidence, including the docket which will help us to have a better understanding of the matter, to identify those responsible and the extent of liability. We hope the docket will be with us in the next week or so,” said Mbiriri.
“At this stage it is not possible to put a potential value to the amount claimants may be entitled to. We will require the input of expert evidence in this regard and each claim is to be separately assessed. It may be that a class action will be part of the proceedings, if such proceedings are to be initiated.”
He said there were presently five parties that were potentially liable, and others might still be identified.
A class action is undertaken when a number of claimants have common cause in the same case and it is more practical and convenient to proceed with claims as a group rather than individual cases.
“The case is at the beginning stages so the number of claimants might change,” said Mbiriri.
He said the case would involve dealing with allegations of negligence against the driver for conveying a hazardous load “without adequate cause, diverting from the prescribed route and entering a residential zone”. It was alleged that the driver had failed to exercise good practice or required care by travelling under a low bridge inadequate to accommodate the gas tanker.
A week after the explosion, the 32-year-old driver was released after the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court found that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him at the time. However, Mtiriri said the release of the driver did not affect the instituting of a civil class action and litigation.
The requisite emergency preparedness and response plan or emergency action plans were allegedly also not exercised and traffic regulations were contravened.
The gas explosion on December 24, 2022 occurred when a tanker owned and controlled by Infinite Fleet Transport became wedged under a low bridge and exploded. The tanker was transporting about 60 000 litres of liquefied petroleum gas from Richards Bay to Botswana. Travelling along Hospital Road, close to OR Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg, it attempted to pass under a railway bridge and got stuck, damaging its trailer.
The ensuing gas leak was being attended to by rescue workers when the tanker exploded, seriously damaging the hospital and bridge and its railway infrastructure, motor vehicles stuck behind it and left 41 people dead and possibly a hundred injured.
Injuries included up to third-degree burns, scarring, potential physical impairment and disability. There are also potential psychiatric elements to consider, such as the shock, grief and emotional trauma of people who merely witnessed the event. Claimants would ask for past and future losses, medical expenses, general damages and compensation for pain and suffering, said Mbiriri.
