South Africa ends rescue efforts at building that collapsed killing 33 people

A survivor is bought to the surface at the scene of a building collapse in the city of George, in South Africa The rescue operation is being brought to a halt (Nardus Engelbrecht/AP)

An exhaustive rescue operation to find missing construction workers trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in South Africa will end on Friday after nearly two weeks as authorities released a major revision of their figures and said they now believe that no one else is missing.

At least 33 people have been confirmed dead after the collapse of the unfinished five-story apartment complex in the city of George on the country’s south coast on May 6.

That death toll had been expected to ultimately increase as it changes to a recovery and clear-up operation.

Emergency workers on the scene of the building collapse in George, South Africa (Nardus Engelbrecht/AP)

The decision was announced by the George municipality and its disaster response unit.

Authorities in the city had said that 19 workers were still unaccounted for and believed to be buried in the rubble of the unfinished building that came crashing down.

But as rescue crews and other personnel finished moving concrete and clearing the debris on Friday, the city said that it now believed that a total of 62 construction workers were at the site when the building collapsed, and not 81 as it previously announced.

The conclusion came after more consultations with the building company, police and other new sources of information, the city said.

That meant that all workers were now accounted for: the 33 dead and 29 rescued, the city said. Of the dead, 27 were men and six were women, the city said.

The tragedy was one of South Africa’s worst building collapses.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the collapsed building on Thursday to show support for the victims’ families, emergency workers and others who have been on the site for more than 250 hours, working night and day in shifts to try to find survivors.

More than 600 emergency responders and other personnel were part of the search in the days after the collapse, although that had been scaled down.

A rescue worker walks with a sniffer dog at the site of the building collapse in George, South Africa (Nardus Engelbrecht/AP)

There were some remarkable stories of survival amid the thousands of tons of concrete that collapsed, including a man who was found alive after being trapped for six days without food and water. Rescuers said he had only minor injuries.

As the rescue operation ends, the building will be handed over to the national department of employment and labour to conduct an investigation into the collapse, city authorities said. There will be multiple other investigations, including by police and the provincial Western Cape government.

Many of the workers were foreign nationals from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The construction contractors responsible for the building have come under scrutiny and the investigations will probe whether they adhered to safety standards. The building was due to be completed in July or August.