Rescuers make inroads overnight in George building collapse rescues
It’s been a painstaking 36 hours, but crews are making significant headway to clear the site by the end of the week.
Emergency services pull another survivor from the rubble of a collapsed building in George on 7 May 2024. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/Eyewitness News
GEORGE - Rescuers continue to make gains at the site of a building collapse in George, Southern Cape.
Overnight, a woman was brought to safety, bringing the number of people retrieved from the rubble to 36.
Dozens of construction workers remain trapped underneath the wreckage of the five-storey building after it caved in on Monday afternoon.
Seven people, however, lost their lives and it's still unclear what caused the fatal fold.
Seventy-five construction workers were on site when the residential building caved in.
The George municipality has since revealed that developers Neo Trend ICE Projects were given approval to build the apartment block in July.
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It’s been a painstaking 36 hours, but crews are making significant headway to clear the site by the end of the week.
For the first time in several hours, the media is allowed on the fringes of the excavator site, obeying a call for silence as rescue workers prepare a retrieval.
It's all hands on deck. The anticipation is palpable. Emergency workers huddle in tight to support the body coming to the surface. Disaster medics shuffle in close. Another survivor has been pulled from the rubble.