One patient still remains in hospital in the Boksburg gas leak tragedy

Only one patient still remains in hospital after a gas leak that killed 17 people in Angelo informal settlement in Boksburg. 

This was revealed by Gauteng department of health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba on Tuesday, who said of the 11 people who were admitted at the Tambo Memorial Hospital, one died on arrival and the rest were hospitalised. 

“Of the 11 that were taken to the hospital, nine are discharged. One adult patient remains on ventilation in hospital,” Modiba said. 

Modiba said some of the patients were released last week while others were discharged over the past two days.

Among them is nine-year-old Joseph Ndlovu, who was released on Monday. Joseph lost his mother, brother and aunt in the gas leak. 

When TimesLIVE visited the family on Tuesday, Joseph was not feeling well. 

“He came back at 3pm yesterday and he was OK, but today he has been complaining about the headache,” said the boy’s aunt, Sibonginkosi Nyathi. 

Nyathi said the family has not informed Joseph of the four people who died in his family. 

“He has been asking about his mother and younger brother, but we have not said a word to him. What is strange is that yesterday, we made a fire because of the cold weather. When he smelt the smoke from the fire he left crying and went straight to bed and slept,” said Nyathi. 

On July 5, 16 people died after inhaling a toxic gas leaked from a cylinder in the informal settlement. One other person died as they arrived in hospital. It is believed the gas cylinder had been brought to the informal settlement by illegal miners.

Angelo informal settlement experiences a lot of illegal mining activity and is next to a mine dump. 

Police confiscated gas cylinders and other equipment used by illegal miners a day after the incident. Among those who died were Clester Ndlovu, Joseph’s mother, his brother Learnmore, aunt Siziwe Nyathi and her daughter Thembelihle Nyathi. 

According to Joseph’s father, Patrick Manganya, when Joseph saw that his mother and other members of his family had collapsed, he took his three-month-old sister Rebokile out of the shack. Rebokile was released with Joseph on Monday. 

The death of 17 people has again brought sharp focus on the problem of illegal mining in Gauteng. Areas in the east, west and south of the province have been faced with illegal mining for many years without an end in sight. 

This has sparked calls from those living in these communities for government to deploy the army to stamp its authority on the crime.

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