- Written by Shingai Nyoka in George, South Africa and Ian Casey in London
- BBC News
Rescue teams in South Africa are racing against time to search for 42 people who went missing after a five-storey apartment building collapsed on Monday.
At least 33 people were removed from the rubble after the accident in the southern coastal city of George, and seven of them were confirmed dead.
Early Tuesday, rescuers spoke to 11 more survivors inside the ruins.
Among them are four people who were trapped in the basement. It is unclear whether they have been rescued yet.
A building collapsed during construction, and the cause is currently being investigated.
At the scene, teams of emergency personnel took turns manually removing concrete blocks and debris from the narrow site.
The team leader occasionally raised his fist and asked for silence. Everyone stopped and looked, hoping they had found someone. Some of them were false alarms and the noise was restarted.
Most of the workers at the construction site, believed to be 75 in total, are still missing, and rescue of survivors will take time and effort.
“The process of lifting the different floors above each other will then begin,” said Colin Deiner, chief director of disaster management.
“It's possible that people are still alive,” he added.
The entire rescue operation is expected to take four to five days.
Video footage taken nearby showed a huge cloud of dust being thrown up as the building collapsed.
This site is prohibited from public access. But many people still stood around in shock and disbelief.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his thoughts were with the families of those killed in the attack and called for an investigation to “bring closure to the community and prevent this tragedy from happening again.”
Mayor Aldo van Wyk expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and “all those affected who are still waiting for news of their loved ones.”
Throughout the night, more than 200 rescue workers with sniffer dogs worked to find people trapped inside the building. Heavy equipment was used to assist in the work.
Photos from the area now show a completely flattened construction site, with parts of building roofs lying on top of the rubble.
“I saw one guy doing his job and then I saw the whole building collapse…I'm traumatized too. It's very sad,” local councilor Teresa Jay said. Ta.