Cape Town, South Africa — Hope was fading Friday for 44 construction workers buried for days in the rubble of a collapsed building in South Africa, with authorities saying rescuers now face the challenge of moving thousands of tons of concrete with heavy machines to see if there is any left. survivors.
The death toll rises to nine after a worker died in critical condition in hospital, authorities said.
Of the 28 workers rescued from the construction site, 21 were in critical condition or had suffered life-threatening injuries following Monday’s collapse of the five-story apartment complex under construction.
Fearing that the final death toll could exceed 50, authorities in the town of George on South Africa’s southern coast said large amounts of earth-moving equipment had arrived and rescue teams were on their way. to remove huge slabs of concrete and rubble to penetrate deeper into the wreckage.
City authorities said it was still a rescue operation rather than a recovery, but no survivors have been found or evacuated since Wednesday.
“Despite the introduction of large machines, rescue techniques will still be carried out carefully and sensitively by the highly trained and experienced disaster management team,” the city said in a statement.
He also revised the number of missing from 38 to 44 after determining there were more construction workers at the site than previously thought. New information provided by the construction company shows there were 81 workers when the building collapsed, not 75 as authorities had initially reported, she said.
More than 600 people are involved in the rescue operation, many of whom came from neighboring towns. George, located about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town, is a small town known as a holiday and golf destination.
Authorities say several investigations are underway into the cause of the collapse, including by police, the provincial government and the national labor ministry.
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