South African President Cyril Ramaphosa laid a wreath and paid his respects Friday to the victims of last week’s devastating construction site disaster in George.
The somber ceremony came as the death toll rose to 27 after the catastrophic collapse of a multi-story building under construction on Monday. Dozens more were injured when the half-built concrete structure gave way for unknown reasons.
Ramaphosa traveled to the disaster site and met privately with families of victims, expressing the nation’s collective condolences. He then laid a wreath at a memorial set up near the twisted metal and rubble.
The president extended gratitude to the emergency personnel, some still picking through the rubble nearly a week after the collapse. Their efforts have been made more difficult by bad weather hampering the search and recovery operations.
An investigation into the cause of the collapse is ongoing. Questions have been raised about potential shortcutting of safety regulations, though the construction company has pushed back forcefully on those allegations.
Ramaphosa committed the government’s full support to assisting the victims’ families and praised the resilience of the local community in the wake of the tragedy. He announced a national day of mourning will be set once the remains of all victims have been retrieved.
According to an update report issued by George Municipality, in the Western Cape, at 12pm on Thursday, of the 81 people who were inside the building during the incident, 62 have been recovered. Thirty-two people have passed away, while 12 have been admitted in the hospital. Nineteen are still unaccounted for.
Rescue and recovery operation have concluded with authorities confirming that 34 people were successfully rescued.33 people passed away, including 5 people who were rescued, but sadly succumbed to their injuries in hospital while 10 people are still in hospital, and 19 people have either been discharged or received on site medical treatment.
