By Esther de Villiers
At 4pm today, 50 hours had passed since a multi-storey building under construction crashed to the ground in the George CBD on Monday afternoon.
The operation is now moving towards the “recovery stage”, according to Professor Richard Walls, head of Structural and Fire Engineering at Stellenbosch University. Rescuers are still looking for signs of life, but the difficulty of the terrain is steering the teams towards a different approach that involves the use of bigger machinery.
Walls was speaking at a briefing facilitated by the George Municipality. Included were Western Cape local government minister Anton Bredell and Disaster Management chief Colin Deiner.
It was explained that a huge amount of building rubble still needs to be removed as the critical three-day mark is nearing, but without causing major shifts that may risk the lives of victims still buried under tons of rubble.
Meanwhile, on social media, DA federal council chair Helen Zille condemned a tweet by ANC Western Cape leader Cameron Dugmore, in which he called the tragedy an example of “the DA’s construction mafia”.
“It is the meanest and most opportunistic conspiracy theory imaginable,” said Zille, who visited the George disaster site yesterday.
As reported in Die Burger, she said he had no proof for his claims of a “giant cover-up in George”, or that contractors involved with the doomed building “have strong ties with the DA”.
Zille said it was deplorable that Dugmore “used this tragedy for political gain” without substantiating his statements.
As the politicians squabble, family members of workers still missing under the rubble remain close to the site, hoping for sounds of life while the big machines are working against time.
The numbers of deaths recorded since Monday rose to eight on Wednesday night and 38 people are still unaccounted for. Of those retrieved alive, 16 are in a critical condition and six face life-threatening injuries, while seven people sustained minor injuries.
Pictured above: Heavy-duty machines are being used in a race to reach survivors.
Source: Herman Pieters/Garden Route District Municipality
