Rescuers and spectators cheered and clapped on Saturday as a person who survived was found after 116 hours from under the debris of a collapsed building in South Africa. The incident led to at least 13 deaths.
“It is an amazing event that we have all been wishing for,” provincial leader Alan Winde stated on X.
An apartment building being built in the southern city of George collapsed on Monday afternoon while 81 workers were on site. crumbled “When we went down to the side of the slab we had uncovered, we heard somebody inside and we stopped all the heavy operations,” Colin Deiner, head of rescue operations, told reporters.
Rescuers then called out to the survivor and he spoke back, Deiner said.
“He indicated to us that he’s got weight on his legs, and we’re very concerned about that after such a long period.”
After multiple hours, the survivor was removed and taken to a hospital.
Teams involved in the rescue have been working urgently since the structure collapsed.
Thirty individuals have been rescued alive while thirty-eight are still missing.
Winde mentioned that a “challenging” identification procedure was ongoing and that law enforcement was using fingerprints, DNA testing and photographs.
The reasons for the collapse are still not known.
The construction plans for a 42-unit apartment building had been approved by the city in July.
Thirty people have been rescued alive while thirty-eight remained unaccounted for.
AFP
