Brian McDonald
Cape Town, South Africa — Rescue teams search for dozens of construction workers missing after a apartment complex collapsed in South Africa brought more survivors on Tuesday as they went into a second night of work desperate to find anyone alive in the wreckage. At least seven people were confirmed dead.
Authorities said 26 workers were rescued from the site where the five-story building collapsed on Monday during construction in George, about 400 kilometers east of Cape Town on South Africa’s south coast. that another 42 people are still buried in the rubble of concrete and metal scaffolding.
Rescuers were hopeful more people would be found alive after previously saying they had made contact with at least 11 workers trapped in the rubble and were communicating with them.
It was not immediately clear how many of them were rescued, but five survivors were pulled out on Tuesday, adding to the 21 found on Monday, according to a count provided by city authorities. There were 75 construction workers on site when the building collapsed.
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Rescuers erupted in applause as one of the survivors was brought to the surface. They shouted at the man to “stay with us!” as he was pulled from a crevice in the wreckage and placed on a stretcher. They then shouted to him, “you’re out there now!”
Authorities did not provide updated details on the extent of the injuries, but said in the first hours after the collapse that at least 11 of the rescued workers suffered serious injuries.
Colin Deiner, head of Western Cape provincial disaster management services, said the search and rescue operation would likely take at least three days. He said it would take at least the rest of Tuesday to rescue all 11 survivors they located, which included a group of four workers trapped in what was the building’s basement.
Some of those workers had limbs under concrete slabs and were unable to move, Deiner said.
“We will give as much time as possible to see how many people we can rescue,” Deiner said at a press conference. “It’s very, very difficult if you’re working with concrete breakers and drillers close to people.”
Shafiek Tassiem/REUTERS
“Our biggest concern is being trapped for many hours, when parts of a person’s body are compressed.
Deiner said it was possible there were more survivors deep in the wreckage and that a process of removing layers of concrete could begin in time.
More than 100 emergency services and other personnel worked at the site in shifts. Rescue teams used sniffer dogs to try to locate the workers. Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to help and high floodlights were erected to allow rescuers to work in the dark.
Deiner said a critical part of the rescue operation came when they ordered everyone to remain quiet and turn off the machines so they could hear the survivors. That’s when they located some of them, he said.
“We were actually hearing people in the rubble,” Deiner said.
Several local hospitals were making space in their trauma units in hopes that more people would come out alive. More than 50 emergency teams were also brought in from other cities to help, including a specialized team that handles rescue operations at collapsed structures.
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Family and friends of the workers gathered at nearby municipal offices and were supported by social workers, George municipality said.
Authorities were beginning investigations into what caused the tragedy and a criminal case was opened by police, but there was no immediate information on why the building collapsed. CCTV footage from a nearby house showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding suddenly collapsing, causing a cloud of dust to rise over the neighborhood.
People came out of other buildings after the collapse, some of them screaming and shouting.
Alan Winde, the premier of the Western Cape province, said there would be investigations by both the provincial government and the police.
Officials said that under city law, the private construction company’s engineers were responsible for the safety of the construction site until its completion, when it would be turned over to the city for verification and clearance.
Winde said the priority is the rescue effort and investigations will be carried out thereafter.
“Right now, authorities are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage,” said Winde.
The national government was being informed about the rescue operation, Winde said. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement offering his condolences to the families of the victims and also called for investigations into the cause of the collapse.
