Johannesburg - (AFP) - The death toll from a liquefied gas tanker explosion in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, has risen to 15, South Africa's health minister said Sunday morning.

Joe Bala said in an interview with reporters at a hospital near the scene of the explosion, "The death toll was 10 dead yesterday, and this morning (Sunday) it has become 15."

William Ntlady, a spokesman for the emergency department in this region, told AFP on Saturday night that the death toll rose on Saturday evening to ten dead and about forty wounded.

He explained that half of the wounded were in serious condition, and 15 others were seriously injured, but in stable condition, while six firefighters sustained minor injuries.

Early Sunday, the truck was stuck under a bridge near a hospital and homes in a residential neighborhood.

"We got a call around 07:50 and the firefighters went out to put out the start of a fire, but then the truck exploded unfortunately," said Ntlady.

In amateur videos posted on social media, a huge fireball is seen exploding under the bridge. It seems that the height of the tanker truck did not allow it to cross the place.

The spokesman added that the tank was filled with 60,000 liters of liquefied gas, used mainly in stoves, and arrived from the southeast of the country, explaining that the truck driver was injured and taken to hospital.

Jean-Marie Boysen heard an explosion early Sunday morning, shortly after 06:30. "It's a very sad day for our little suburb," she told AFP, about 40 kilometers east of Johannesburg.

The 60-year-old blonde woman, who was a few steps away from the scientific police combing the site of the disaster, added that "a huge tremor occurred," explaining that "I grew up here and immediately said to myself: 'This has nothing to do with mining activity'." It is more like a 6.5-magnitude tremor. degrees on the Richter scale.

"I went upstairs and saw flames and thought the house was on fire. I called the fire department and they assured me they were on their way," she said.

Then came the bad news in the morning.

She noted that "on the other side of the road were two children, a teenager and a young man of about 25 who came to mow the lawn in my garden" regularly. "There is not one of them left, they are all dead," she added.

William, who did not want to reveal his last name, was hundreds of meters away from the explosion. He said that "a large number of us were injured by burns on our backs and by stones" that were thrown from a train station close to the site of the explosion.

"You can see it there on the ground," said the black man in his forties, pointing to the road covered in debris.