A tall apartment building being built fell down on Monday in a city by the ocean in South Africa. Two workers died and 53 others are stuck under the broken building, according to the authorities.
An extra 20 workers were rescued from the destroyed building and are getting medical help at different hospitals, according to the city officials.
The building fell down at about 2 pm in George city, which is about 400 kilometers east of Cape Town on South Africa’s south coast.
More than 100 rescue workers were at the site for many hours. They will work through the night with sniffer dogs to find survivors, who might be trapped under big pieces of concrete.
The George municipality is sending cranes and heavy lifting equipment to help with the rescue. They are also bringing in more emergency responders from nearby towns and cities. They were supposed to arrive at the location around midnight.
The building site collapsed while 75 workers were there. The workers’ families and friends were at the municipal offices nearby, waiting to hear what happened.
The police were trying to figure out why the building fell down. They didn’t know the reason yet.
Marco Ferreira, who works for a group called Gift of the Givers, was helping the rescue team by giving them food and drinks. Gift of the Givers is a charity that often provides assistance during emergencies in South Africa. Ferreira said they gave three sniffer dogs and handlers to help find things.
“The situation is still in the rescue stage,” Ferreira said on eNCA TV news channel. “We don’t know. It will probably continue for days. ” There are some big machines there to help pick up heavy blocks of concrete. “But it doesn’t look good. ”
Officials did not right away give information about the injuries the workers got, but the news in South Africa said that several of them got really hurt. Two workers died after they were taken to hospitals, the George municipality said.
George’s Mayor, Leon Van Wyk, said that we are thinking about the families and everyone who is waiting to hear about their loved ones.
The government in Western Cape is watching the situation closely and has sent help to deal with the emergency.
“We have provided emergency workers with all the help they need to respond as quickly as possible. ” Right now, the officials are working to save lives. “This is the most important thing for us right now,” said Alan Winde, the leader of the Western Cape government.
The government was learning about the rescue operation, Winde said.