The incident comes on the back of a dramatic spike in fuel theft as prices rocket. In its response to questions from Fin24, Transnet Pipelines did not specify how much diesel was spilled. It said emergency workers were deployed immediately, but that they struggled to isolate the fuel leak location due to a sewerage leak upstream that left the area waterlogged and overrun with effluent. Fuel theft has been a major problem for the company, resulting in millions of litres of fuel losses, damage to infrastructure, and environmental damage. Transnet Pipelines Chief Executive Michelle Phillips told Fin24 that a special join task force had been established to investigate illegal activities relating to fuel theft.

Source: News 24 August 10, 2022 04:37 UTC