Hope for survivors of South Africa building collapse prompts massive search and rescue operation

Cape Town, South Africa — Rescue teams searching for dozens of missing construction workers after a Apartment complex collapses in South Africa He pulled out more survivors Tuesday as they began a second night of desperate work to find anyone alive in the rubble. At least seven people have been confirmed dead.

Authorities said 26 workers had been rescued from the site where the five-story building collapsed on Monday while under construction in George, about 400 kilometers east of Cape Town on South Africa’s southern coast. Another 42 people were believed to be still buried in the rubble of concrete and metal scaffolding.

Rescuers were hopeful of finding more people alive after previously saying they had contacted at least 11 workers trapped in the rubble and were communicating with them.

It was not immediately clear how many of them had been rescued, but five survivors were rescued 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.

Rescuers burst into applause when one of the survivors was brought to the surface. They yelled at the man to “stay with us!” as they pulled him out of a hole in the rubble and placed him on a stretcher. Then they yelled at him: “You’re out!”

Authorities have not provided 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 had serious injuries.

Colin Deiner, head of Western Cape provincial disaster management services, said the search and rescue operation would likely last at least three days. He said it would take at least the rest of Tuesday to extricate the 11 survivors they had located, which included a group of four workers trapped in what was the basement of the building.

Some of those workers had limbs under concrete slabs and couldn’t move, Deiner said.

“We’re going to give it as much time as possible to see how many people we can rescue,” Deiner said at a news conference. “It’s very, very difficult if you’re working with hammers and concrete drills around people.”

“Our big concern is being trapped for many hours, when a person’s body parts are compressed. Therefore, it is necessary to bring medical help to them. We brought our doctors as soon as we could.”

Deiner said it was possible there were more survivors deep in the rubble and that a process of removing layers of concrete would eventually begin.

More than 100 emergency services and other personnel had been working at the scene in shifts. Rescuers were using sniffer dogs to try to locate the workers. Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to help and high floodlights were installed to allow rescuers to work in the dark.

Deiner said a critical part of the rescue operation came when they ordered everyone to remain silent and turn off the machinery so they could hear the survivors. That’s when they located some of them, he said.

“We were actually listening to people through the rubble,” Deiner said.

Several local hospitals were making room in their trauma units in anticipation of more people making it out alive. More than 50 rescuers were also brought in from other towns and cities to help, including a specialized team dealing with rescue operations on collapsed structures.

Relatives and friends of the workers had gathered at nearby municipal offices and were supported by social workers, George Municipality said.

Authorities were launching investigations into the cause of the tragedy and police opened a criminal case, but there was no immediate information about why the building collapsed. CCTV footage from a nearby house showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding suddenly collapsed, causing a plume of dust to rise over the neighbourhood.

People came out of other buildings after the collapse, and some of them were screaming and shouting.

Alan Winde, premier of the Western Cape province, said investigations would be carried out 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 work until completion, when it would be turned over to the city for inspection and cleaning.

Winde said the priority was the rescue effort and investigations would unfold after that.

“At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this time,” Winde said.

Winde said the national government was being briefed on the rescue operation. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a statement offering his condolences to the families of the victims and also called for an investigation into the causes of the collapse.