- Rescuers in South Africa are searching for survivors still trapped under rubble a week after the collapse of an apartment building that was under construction.
- A construction worker was found alive after six days without food or water.
- Authorities say 24 construction workers have so far been confirmed dead, 28 are missing and 29 have been recovered alive.
Rescue teams in South Africa on Monday continued their efforts to find survivors trapped under rubble a week after the collapse of an apartment building under construction.
Their hopes were raised over the weekend when one of the construction workers was found alive after six days without food or water.
Authorities said 24 construction workers who were on site when the unfinished five-story building collapsed were confirmed dead, while another 28 are missing, raising the possibility that the death toll could eventually surpass the 50's.
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More than 600 emergency services and other personnel have been involved in the search for survivors in the remains of the building in the town of George, on the southern coast of South Africa, which collapsed last Monday.
There were 81 workers at the site when it collapsed and 29 were rescued alive, the city said. He said 13 of them remained in a hospital without giving details of their condition. The city has previously said that many of the survivors were in critical condition when they were found.
The disaster management team overseeing the emergency response maintained that the operation remained a rescue and not a recovery operation, noting that the survivor was removed on Saturday.
Rescuers search the site of a building collapse in George, South Africa, on May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The man, identified as Gabriel Guambe, 32, was in stable condition at the hospital and “surprisingly only suffered minor injuries,” the city said. Guambe was trapped in the rubble for 118 hours, he said.
Their survival underscored rescuers' hopes that there may be more people alive in what they called gaps in the building's ruins, areas where there are gaps between the concrete that could have allowed some workers to survive the collapse.
Rescuers have been using cranes and other heavy machinery to move some of the thousands of tons of concrete in an attempt to reach deeper into the rubble. Sniffer dogs were also used and one was responsible for locating Guambe.
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Many of the workers were foreigners from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi and authorities were asking for translators to help communicate with survivors. They also said it was making it difficult to identify the victims.
Multiple investigations were underway into the cause of the building collapse, including by police, who declared the location a crime scene. The construction company responsible is being investigated to see if it followed proper safety protocols.
People began leaving flowers around the site as a sign of respect for the victims, while the city and the disaster response team issued a joint statement asking South Africans to observe a minute's silence at 2.09pm on Monday, the exact time in which The building collapsed last week.
