Diesel theft blamed for tanker explosion

Diesel theft has been provisionally

identified as the possible cause

of a massive blaze that led to two

fuel tankers exploding and razed

a truck at the Umvoti Shell Ultra

City just south of the Umvoti Toll

Plaza in KwaZulu Natal.

The N2 highway was closed for

a few hours on Sunday following

the explosion.

Editor of the Zululand

Observer, Dave Savides, told FTW

that reporters on the scene had

confirmed that a small petrolpowered

pump had been used to

siphon diesel into a smaller truck

from the fuel tank of one of the

tankers.

FTW learned from local

medical rescue service, IPSS – first

on the scene after the explosion –

that access to the Ultra City had

been closed down, as work would

now begin to contain the diesel

spill and clear the wreckages.

No-one was hurt in the explosion.

Meanwhile, Minister of

Transport, Dipuo Peters,

released the preliminary Easter

weekend accident statistics on

Tuesday – applicable for the

period March 24-28 – and road

deaths are 46% down. “The total

number of fatalities came to 156

for the long weekend – 141 fewer

deaths than the 297 fatalities

recorded for the same period last

year,” said Peters.

CAPTION

The KwaDukuza fire department reportedly struggled for hours to contain the blaze as

the flames reached up to 30 metres high at some point. Photo: IPSS