George building collapse: Fresh teams deployed as rescue efforts continue

GEORGE - Fresh rescue teams have been deployed to the site of a collapsed building in George.

It's been 24 hours since a partially constructed apartment complex folded in the town's CBD.

At least six of the 75 artisans who were on the site have been killed, while 47 remain trapped.

The cause of the construction tragedy is still unknown.

Authorities say they’ve been able to hold conversations with 11 people trapped under the rubble. 

They’ve isolated a dense pocket where at least four people are believed to be stuck in the basement.

"It's a slow, difficult task with the concrete and the reinforcing, so there's still quite a lot to do here."

Western Cape disaster management chief, Colin Deiner, said that retrieving these workers would take much of the afternoon.

"We’ve been communicating with them, that’s quite the big operation and will take most of the day to get them out."

Rescuers will then begin the delicate task of peeling back the sheets of concrete and dismantling the webs of iron rods piercing through the rubble mounds.

"Delayering - that means we start lifting the different floors off each other. There’s a possibility there might be more people alive done there."

From a cordoned-off vantage point 200 meters from the site, relatives look on, hopeful their loved ones are next to be brought to the surface. 

A friend of one of the construction workers at the collapsed building site said that she was still in shock after the tragic incident.

Charles Esfanga is one of the artisans still trapped underneath the rubble.

His friend, Eve, described Charles' role at the building site.

"He's a carpenter, he knows how to build cupboards. They hired him to do those things."