DEATH TOLL RISES IN GEORGE BUILDING COLLAPSE

A building that was meant to house two-bedroom apartments with occupation from 1 August has collapsed in the Western Cape seaside town of George.

So far, 36 people have been retrieved with seven of them being declared dead. The total is made up of 16 critical patients, six life-threatening patients and seven patients with minor injuries.

According to George Municipality, there were 75 construction workers present on-site at the time of the collapse. The incident took place on Monday, just after 14:00. Rescue workers have been working non-stop to try and save more people.

To help rescue operations and give access to the site, a specialised asbestos removal company has been asked to deconstruct a parking structure located at the back of the site. The parking structure doesn’t form part of the new development that collapsed.

The developers of the building located on Victoria Street, would have sold the two-bedroomed apartments for R1.7 million each. Some of them have already been sold.

Local officials said they would give it three days before making a decision about whether to change the status from rescue operation to recovery operation.

Image credit: The Mail & Guardian