At least 16 folks - together with three youngsters - have died in South Africa as a consequence of a suspected gasoline leak, police have mentioned.

The incident occurred within the district of Boksburg, close to the town of Johannesburg, in keeping with the South African Police Services.

Police mentioned two folks had been additionally taken to the hospital for remedy.

Local officers mentioned that as many as 24 folks had died - although it wasn't instantly clear why there was a discrepancy within the loss of life toll.

A spokesperson for the native catastrophe and emergency administration providers, William Ntladi, instructed state broadcaster SABC: "For now the quantity [of fatalities] is 24.

"Once the scene unfolds throughout the night we will come with exact numbers in terms of fatalities and in terms of the casualties that have been hospitalised."

Mr Ntladi mentioned girls and youngsters had been believed to be among the many useless.

A search operation was underway. Teams had been in search of casualties in a 100-metre radius across the sources of the leak.

Local studies mentioned the incident may have been linked to suspected unlawful mining actions, however Mr Ntladi mentioned it was not but identified.

"Whether the illegal miners are among the deceased, that is not yet known," Mr Ntladi mentioned.