George building collapse death toll revised to 13

The number of people who have died as a result of a building collapsing in George, Western Cape has been revised to 13.

Rescue operations entered into the fifth day at the apartment building, located at Victoria Street, on Saturday.

The building was under construction when it collapsed earlier this week, resulting in several fatalities and numerous people remaining unaccounted for.

Body retrieved

Providing an update on Saturday morning, the George Local Municipality confirmed that 13 bodies have been recovered from under the debris.

“Another body was recovered this morning at 02:36am in addition to the 12 as announced in the previous statement. The rescue operations has reached 111 hours as of 6:00am, 11 May,” the municipality said in a statement.

Search efforts are ongoing for the 40 workers that are still trapped.

A total of 81 people when on the site at the time of the collapse, with 13 people currently in hospital.

ALSO READ: George building collapse: Investigator says it’s too early to determine what caused ‘disaster’

On Friday, Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell revealed that the death toll had increased to 14.

But Gerhard Otto, head of the Garden Route District Municipality’s disaster management, told eNCA in the early hours of Saturday that this was not the case.

“I know there was a report of 14 people I think, but we must realise that we have got a double verification system. So we need to verify bodies from the site and to the mortuary or to the FPS [forensic pathology service].

“That system takes a while and although we know there’s more bodies on site, we only can confirm once they have been taken up to the mortuary,” Otto said.

Eastern Cape incident

In another incident, a shop wall collapse killed five people in Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape on Friday.

According to the Dr AB Xuma local municipality, four people who sustained critical injuries were rushed to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha for further treatment.

Seven people were admitted at the All Saints Hospital in Ngcobo, while three others were discharged.

READ MORE: ‘We do not know where they are’ – Nxesi on owner of George building that collapsed

The municipality’s mayor, Siyabulela Zangqa, has since sent his condolences to the families of the deceased.

“This is indeed a tragic incident, and my thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones in this disastrous event. We would also like to thank community members for assisting and showing support in this dreadful period,” Zangqa said.

Additional reporting by Chulumanco Mahamba