Rescue teams in South Africa are in a race against time as they continue to look for more survivors following the collapse of a building in the country’s Western Cape province. Search operations have entered the third day.
Rescuers made use of underground cameras and sniffer dogs amid the rubble as they searched for over 40 construction workers who were still missing. This is the second day of the search after the collapse of the apartment under construction in the city of George.
So far eight people have been reported dead after the five-story building collapsed on Monday for reasons that are yet to be communicated to the press.
As of Thursday afternoon, cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were used to lift some of the huge concrete slabs that crashed down on workers.
The Mayor of the city, Leon Van Wyk, while speaking to the press on Thursday stated that at a point on Wednesday, rescuers were alerted to a “sound or tapping” coming from under the rubble.
However, hopes are no longer high as the chances of finding survivors continue to drop, from the 72-hour mark after the building collapsed, the Mayor said.
He also added that operations would be entering the “body recovering” phase over the next day “as opposed to rescue.”
Twenty-nine of the 75 workers who were at the site when the building collapsed have been pulled out of the rubble alive. However, six have life-threatening injuries and 16 others are in critical condition.
Also, several authorities in South Africa have announced probes into what led to the collapse of the building.
Many authorities, including the police, the provincial government, and the national department of labor, have declared that the cause of the collapse of the building will be looked into.
“There will be consequences,” said Anton Bredell, the Provincial Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning.
George is a city with a population of around 150,000 people on South Africa’s picturesque coastal Garden Route, it is a city known for its vacation and golfing destination.
