Rescue and recovery efforts have finished at the site of a building collapse in George, South Africa.
After 12 days of operations, 33 persons have been confirmed dead, with 19 remaining unaccounted for.
The municipality in the Western Cape province confirmed on Friday that the laborious rescue operation had ended.
The province Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs, and Development Planning, Anton Bredell confirmed on Friday that 62 workers were on the building site when it collapsed on May 6.
10 people are still in hospital, and 19 people have either been discharged or received on site medical treatment, he added.
Five of the 34 people who were successfully rescued died in the hospital as a result of their injuries.
Many of the victims were foreign laborers from countries such as Zimbabwe and Malawi.
The structure will now be handed over to the national department of employment and labor, which will conduct an investigation into the collapse.
During the rescue operation, about 6,000 tons of rubble were cleared by rescue crews.
The five-story apartment building on the country’s south coast was scheduled to be completed in July or August.
