Freight News
Three people have died while attempting to steal fuel from a Transnet pipeline in Durban.
The State-Owned-Entity said in a statement that the incident happened in the early hours of Sunday morning in Clairwood, near to the fuel pipeline.
Transnet spokesperson, Ayanda Shezi, said “the preliminary assessment indicates a botched fuel theft incident on the pipeline, and investigations are ongoing.”
She said Transnet received a notification of a fire at Horseshoe Road which is in close proximity to the fuel pipeline leading to Transnet Pipelines National Operations Centre immediately shutting down the pipeline and activating the emergency response plan.
She said emergency response teams, including EThekwini Disaster Management, SAPS, Fire Departments and Spill response were on site.
“Remediation work and business continuity management processes have been activated. The current focus is to extinguish the fire and minimise the impact on the community and environment.”
Shezi said there has been an unprecedented spate of fuel theft incidents on the pipelines and the associated infrastructure during the last two years.
“Due to the inherent dangers of tampering with high-pressure petroleum pipelines, these incidents have resulted in a fire and other asset damage, as well as environmental incidents, with high remediation costs,” she said.
Shezi said today 159 arrests have been made, 254 criminal cases opened, and 57 fuel tankers and 54 vehicles impounded.
“The interventions implemented thus far have ensured a reduction in the number of incidents and Transnet Pipelines had not experienced an incident on the 24” Multi-Product Pipeline since July 2021.”
