By Esther de Villiers
The George municipality announced on Thursday morning that the figure for those present on site at the time of the Victoria Street building disaster on Monday 6 May had been updated.
“This follows intensive discussions and scrutinisation of safety records with the responsible contractors,” according to municipal spokesperson Chantal Edwards. It was confirmed that the number of workers on site, previously reported as 75, was 81 at the time of the collapse.
Although fatalities have stayed fixed at eight over the last 12 hours, this means that 44 workers are now unaccounted for, as opposed to the 38 in earlier reports.
Rescue teams and engineers have brought in bigger machines over the past six hours in an effort to break through remaining slabs of concrete faster and potentially reach remaining pockets of life.
Family members and friends of those still buried under the rubble continue their vigil close to the site of the collapse.
Disaster management chief Colin Deiner said that although no further sounds had been heard from underneath the rubble since last night, no stone would be left unturned in their rescue efforts, which are now nearing the four-day mark.
Garden Route District Joint Operational Centre confirmed the following numbers by mid-morning:
On-site at the time of incident: 81
Patients retrieved: 37
Patients deceased: 8
Patients critical: 16
Patients with life-threatening injuries: 6
Patients with minor injuries: 7
Workers unaccounted for: 44
Patients’ medical status is given at the time of recovery from the incident site.
In an interview with SABC News this morning, Deiner explained the obvious visual changes at the site, with bulldozers and more substantive equipment now in the process of “delayering”.
He said that volunteer and emergency workers change shifts around the clock and that it remains a “rescue rather than recovery operation” until the next strategic meeting.
Pictured above: Support for the families, volunteers and rescue teams remains crucial.
Image source: Herman Pieters/Garden Route District Municipality
