Death toll in SA building collapse rises to 32

Image- Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Rescue teams in South Africa forged ahead Monday with efforts to find more survivors as the death toll rose to 32 a week after the collapse of an apartment building that was under construction.

Hopes were boosted over the weekend when one of the construction workers was found alive after six days without food and water in the rubble of the building in the city of George on the country’s south coast.

But the death toll also continued to rise and authorities reported at least 11 more bodies were recovered from the debris on Monday.

Another 20 workers are still missing, raising the possibility that the death toll could ultimately climb above 50 in one of South Africa’s deadliest building collapses.

More than 600 emergency services and other personnel have been involved in the search for survivors in the wreckage of the unfinished five-story building, which collapsed May 6.

There were 81 workers on the site when it collapsed, and 29 have been pulled out alive, the city said.

It said 12 of them remained in a hospital without giving details of their condition. The city has previously said that many of the survivors were in critical condition when they were found.

Associated Press