At least six people have died and forty nine still unaccounted for after a multi-story building collapsed in the South African city of George, officials said.
Rescue teams worked through Tuesday night searching for dozens of construction workers buried for more than 12 hours under the rubble of concrete after a multi-story apartment complex that was being built.
Authorities reported the death toll had risen to six, with forty nine workers still buried in the mangled wreckage of the building, which fell on Monday afternoon.
Authorities reported that another 21 workers had been rescued from the wreckage and taken to nearby hospitals, with at least 11 of them seriously injured.
The collapse occurred in George, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town on South Africa’s south coast.
Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought to the site to help with the rescue effort and tall spotlights were erected to allow search and rescue personnel to work through the night.
Rescuers made contact with 11 workers trapped in the rubble and were hopeful of bringing them out, said Colin Deiner, the chief director of the provincial Western Cape Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue Services.
There were 75 workers on the construction site when the building collapsed, the George municipality said.
It said three teams of rescuers were working at separate sites around the collapsed building where they believed construction workers were likely to be.
Family and friends of the workers gathered at the nearby municipal offices.
Authorities were investigating what caused the tragedy and a case was opened by police, but there was no immediate information on why the building suddenly collapsed.
