'The ultimate gift' - George building collapse survivors describe the first Christmas with families following tragedy

CAPE TOWN - Miracle survivors of the George building collapse have described being with family this festive season as the 'ultimate gift'.

Less than half of the 62 artisans working on the apartment block survived when the building fell in May. 

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Earlier in December, some survivors returned to the site for a special remembrance ceremony. 

Delvin Safers from Mossel Bay was trapped for 28 hours, his cellphone on 22%. 

In short voice notes to save his battery power, he guided rescuers to a chamber where he and a deceased colleague were lying.

"In that situation, you don’t think about feelings. You think about survival. You think about ‘I want to get out of this place.'"

It was 118 hours into the search operation when between the smell of dust and decomposing bodies, rescue hounds detected the scent of another person trapped beneath the debris. He was also alive.

Gabriel Guambe was working as a tiler when the five-storey building fell. He was pinned down under 3,000 tons of rubble for days without food or water.

While in recovery, he sent this message from his hospital bed: "I am okay now. Everything is okay. Thank-you. God bless you guys."

Twenty-eight artisans made it out alive. Guambe's rescue sparked new momentum in the team to find more survivors, but they never did.