A social worker supporting the families of construction workers still buried beneath the rubble at the site of the collapsed apartment building in George has spoken of the wide-scale trauma being witnessed.
Families of the deceased workers were also anxiously awaiting the identification of their loved ones.
The five-storey building collapsed on Monday afternoon with 81 workers on site. Eight people have been declared deceased while 37 have been retrieved so far. By Thursday afternoon, 44 people were still unaccounted for.
Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez and department colleagues have been on site since earlier this week.
DSD social worker Funiswa Neti said she has never witnessed trauma on such a wide scale before.
“We’ve been working in shifts, along with our partners, to ensure there is 24/7 support for the families waiting in the hall. Whatever is needed from us, we try to give it, whether it is comforting a crying mother, serving lunch, or playing with the children. We are here or whatever.
“It has been very difficult, for all of us as social workers, but our focus is the families and their needs.”
George Municipality spokesperson Chantel Edwards-Klose said search and rescue teams on site continued to utilise concrete breakers and additional trucks to remove building rubble as a delayering process of the removal of 3000 tons of concrete was under way.
Edwards-Klose said: “The Garden Route District Joint Operational Centre established for the Victoria Street building site collapse has updated the figure for those present on site at the time of the incident on Monday. This follows intensive discussions and scrutinisation of the safety records with the responsible contractors. The contractor has now confirmed that the number of workers on site at the time of collapse was 81.”
It was previously reported that 75 workers were on site.
Chanel Fourie, spokesperson for property managers Neo Victoria Developments, said they were informed of the incident soon after it occurred.
“The news of the most unfortunate event reached not only the community, but worldwide, and the development team with total disbelief and utmost shock. Rescue operations from George and the Garden Route Municipalities, long with the SAPS, responded without delay. This new building, almost at a stage of completion, was the workplace for many construction workers, many of whom got trapped in the implosion.
“The safety and rescue of workers are the main concern and priority. It was clear that nothing said and done afterwards could undo tragic disaster.
The quick response of rescue work was priority and at the same time it was imperative to come to know and understand what the cause of this disaster was.
“Information had to be gathered as quickly as possible. This had to be done to allow maximum accessibility for emergency and recovery personnel to undertake the rescue work. The information of the development became subject to questions and, in instances, also speculation.
“We are more than shocked and horrified with this catastrophe ... This event will impact many lives for years to come. We cannot stop praying for the best possible outcome – even though we cannot predict or pre-empt what is to come. The development team are fully committed and supportive of the investigations envisaged,” said Fourie.
During a briefing in George, Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said the department would conduct its independent investigations after police had done their investigation.
“We have a compensation (process) we have to deal with ... but we can only do that once all of those people have been identified ... I am here today with a very heavy heart on what I have seen.
I want to emphasise what we cannot do at this stage ... because there are a lot of rumours. We don’t want to speculate.
“We will leave everything to the investigation, and once the investigations have been able to expose the facts, we will talk to that,” said Nxesi.
Cape Times