Three children have sadly been killed following a leak of toxic nitrate gas in South Africa.
Police and local government authorities said that 16 people have lost their lives following the tragic incident.
Emergency services at the scene originally counted the fatalities at 24 people in an informal settlement in Boksburg, which is on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg, RTÉ has reported.
Police and Gauteng Province premier Panyaza Lesufi have since said that the number of deaths has now been confirmed at 16 following a recount.
Teams in the area were still searching for other bodies of he victims lying on the ground hours following a report of the leak, with emergency services waiting for forensic investigators and pathologists.
Emergency services spokesman William Ntladi said: “We can’t move anybody. The bodies are still where they are on the ground.”
This is the cylinder that caused the #BoksburgGasLeak pic.twitter.com/MKCQBksRll
— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) July 5, 2023
Police have also confirmed the ages of the three children who sadly died in the incident, noting they were aged one, six and 15, with two more taken to hospital for treatment.
Ntladi said a nitrate gas cylinder that was being kept in a shack leaked and officials believe it was being used by illegal miners to separate gold from dirt and rock.
They also did not say if those suspected illegal miners they believe to be responsible were among those killed.
Lesufi has since tweeted videos of the inside of a shack where at least four gas cylinders can be seen, claiming one was the cylinder responsible for the leak – which could be seen lying on the floor at the entrance.
Illegal mining is major in areas around Johannesburg due to gold being prominent there, seeing miners go to closed off and unused mines to search for anything that may have been left over.
On December 24th last year, 41 people died in the same city after a truck carrying liquefied petroleum gas became stuck under a bridge and exploded.
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