Teddy Msomi, a 26-year-old Joburg resident was going about his day on Wednesday, July 19 when he found himself caught up in the Bree Street explosion in the Johannesburg CBD.
The photographer and videographer was on his way back home from a photo-shoot when the unthinkable happened. He was a passenger of a taxi headed to the MTN rank from the Bree taxi rank side of town.
“The taxi was in the middle of the road when all of a sudden, there was a load bang and it jumped in its exact spot which shook and scared everyone in it, as we had no clue as to what was going on. Everything in that moment felt like it moving fast,” he said.
Msomi added that pandemonium ensued as everyone was fearing for their lives and trying to get out the vehicle. Amid the chaos, he described the road as being instantly filled with smoke and gas whose smell was akin to a mixture of petrol and burnt rubber.
When the explosion occurred, the creative was terrified for his life. He said that when the blast occurred, he instinctively assumed it was a terrorist strike. Luckily, he had not been physically injured.
“Some women in the taxi started praying which gave me even more anxiety. Everyone, including the driver, left the taxi as swiftly as possible before things got worse and people got hurt,” he said.
After exiting the taxi, Msomi saw the harrowing scene of the road that had been split apart in the middle, with some cars upside down and tumbled over, others extensively damaged.
“It looked very scary. I thought to myself, ‘Judgement Day is definitely well on its way,’ as I had never in my life experienced anything like this before.
“This event traumatised a lot of people. It happened really unexpectedly and for most of the people that were there that got caught up in the impact of the explosion, it changed their lives, as there were damages to their vehicles. For most of us, it felt like there was a possibility of death in that moment,” said the survivor.
Msomi believes government incompetence is to blame for the disaster.
“This is a result of negligence in the higher power that has now negatively affected a lot of peoples’ lives,” he said.
IOL