1988 Van Wyk Street bomb explosion revisited
19 injured and 4 killed in explosion.
3 June will mark exactly 30 years since the bomb explosion that occurred in Van Wyk Street.
At about 1.30pm on that day in 1988, a Soviet limpet mine hidden in a dustbin outside a branch of Standard Bank exploded. It took the lives of four people and injured another 19. Most of the victims were standing at the corner waiting for the traffic light to change. The country was in a state of emergency and this was the fifth bomb explosion in nine days.
Also Read: Video: Massive explosion rocks suburb
The then Minister of Law and Order, Adriaan Vlok, put the blame for the bomb on the African National Congress, which was banned at that time. The death toll was the greatest in a bomb explosion since four policemen were killed when a car bomb went off in May 1987. The incident was reported on in both the Washington Post and the New York Times.
On 24 August 1984, the Record also came too close for comfort to our country’s sordid past, when two limpet mines exploded in the City Centre Building on Luttig Street, which housed its offices. Luckily the fourth floor, on which the office was, suffered very little damage. There were no fatalities in the explosion.
Make sure not to miss an exclusive interview with one of the survivors of the bomb attack in next week’s print edition.
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