Five killed and dozens buried by South Africa building collapse

Rescuers searching feverishly for trapped survivors; 75 construction workers were on site during Monday’s collapse.

At least five people have died and about 50 others remain trapped following the collapse of a building in South Africa.

Rescue teams said on Tuesday that they had contacted survivors buried under the rubble after they worked overnight at the site in the coastal city of George, in South Africa’s Western Cape province. The five-storey building, which was under construction, collapsed on Monday afternoon. No cause has yet been given.

Twenty-six of the 75 construction workers on site at the time of the collapse had been pulled from the rubble by Tuesday morning. Five were declared dead; the remainder were transported to hospital.

Of the 49 still unaccounted for, rescuers said they contacted 11 people.

“Four of them are trapped in a basement,” Colin Deiner, chief director for disaster management, told a news conference, adding that there is a possibility that more could be alive.