George building collapse: More feared dead than initially thought
Rescue workers are looking for more people trapped under the rubble at the George building site as safety records indicate that 81 people were on-site at the time of the disaster.
The Garden Route District Joint Operations Centre established for the George Neo Victoria multi-storey apartment block collapse has announced that more people were on-site than initially thought.
This announcement followed intensive discussions and scrutinising safety records with the responsible contractors. It has now been confirmed that the number of workers on-site at the time of the collapse was 81 and not 75 as previously reported.
As of 06:11 this morning, the rescue operation had been ongoing for 64 hours.
At the time of publishing, 37 people had been retrieved from the rubble. Eight people are deceased, 16 are in critical condition, six have life-threatening injuries, and seven have minor injuries. Forty-four people are unaccounted for.
George Herald editor Lizette da Silva spoke to Local Government MEC Anton Bredell this morning about the number of people who were on-site when the building collapsed. Bredell also provided an update on rescuers’ strategy for today.
Watch the video by Alida de Beer:
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, said in an interview on eNCA this morning that there are more than 3 000 tons of concrete on the building site, adding to the challenge of retrieving the victims.
He said the multi-storey building imploded to ground level, describing the severity of the tragedy.
“Five floors were completely pancaked. People between the floors have no chance of survival.”
He added that the ‘strange thing’ is that there was a gap in the basement, and people were taken out alive. “They were very fortunate.”
Earlier this morning, Colin Diener, head of Western Cape Disaster Services, said they have been able to break through the top two layers/floors. He said sniffer dogs have identified areas where people could be trapped.
Watch the video by Alida de Beer:
Rescue efforts continue
The emergency response team is using stronger concrete breakers to get through the rubble and additional trucks to remove debris from the site.
Last night, George Herald reported that while rescuers were still looking for signs of life, the sheer difficulty of the terrain was steering the teams towards a different approach.
A huge amount of building rubble must be removed without causing major shifts within the disaster area. For this purpose, bigger machinery will be used.
Rescue workers continue to work tirelessly to break the multiple cement layers into smaller pieces to clear the huge amount of rubble.
Watch the video by Wyndham Ewerts from Group Editors:
Yesterday, Bredell, Deiner, and Prof Richard Walls of Structural Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch briefed the media on the state of affairs.
Watch the briefing:
Read original story on www.georgeherald.com