{"id":47400,"date":"2024-05-10T03:46:50","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T03:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/10\/we-still-have-hope-rescuers-race-to-find-dozens-missing-in-south-africa-building-collapse\/"},"modified":"2024-05-10T03:46:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T03:46:50","slug":"we-still-have-hope-rescuers-race-to-find-dozens-missing-in-south-africa-building-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/10\/we-still-have-hope-rescuers-race-to-find-dozens-missing-in-south-africa-building-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We Still Have Hope\u2019: Rescuers Race to Find Dozens Missing in South Africa Building Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/09\/multimedia\/09safrica-collapse-1-gjwm\/09safrica-collapse-1-gjwm-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\u2018We Still Have Hope\u2019: Rescuers Race to Find Dozens Missing in South Africa Building Collapse\" title=\"\u2018We Still Have Hope\u2019: Rescuers Race to Find Dozens Missing in South Africa Building Collapse\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It may not have been his dream, but Gift Kasonda was happy to have been working as a laborer on a construction site in South Africa\u2019s coastal city of George. A recent high school graduate, he had emigrated from Malawi last year and was hoping to save money for college, said his uncle, Gracium Msiska.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now his family is left wondering whether those hopes have been dashed. The four-story building under construction where he was working collapsed in a thunderous instant on Monday, killing at least eight people and leaving dozens of others, including Mr. Kasonda, missing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the search for survivors passed the 72-hour mark on Thursday, the screams for help from beneath the rubble that offered signs of life in the early hours of the collapse faded. But rescuers were still desperately combing through some 3,000 tons of concrete. As of Thursday afternoon, 29 of the 37 people pulled from the wreckage had survived and 44 people were still missing, according to the authorities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Investigators have only just begun the work of trying to figure out what caused the building to come down. For now, many relatives of the missing, like Mr. Msiska, are focused on the race against time to find survivors \u2014 enduring sleepless nights and simply praying for the best.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-small css-1189og3 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-1ybnr6m ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">Gift Kasonda in an undated photo at the building that collapsed.<\/span><span class=\"css-1u46b97 e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">via Gracium Msiska<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Msiska said his nephew, who is 18 or 19 years old, arrived in South Africa last October, settling in the same township just outside George where he has lived since 2019, when Mr. Msiska himself came from Malawi in search of economic opportunities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou know, life back home, it\u2019s very difficult,\u201d Mr. Msiska said by phone. \u201cHe was trying to survive. He\u2019s still a young boy, he\u2019s still chasing his dreams. We were all happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On his way home from work on Monday, Mr. Msiska said, he got a call from his sister, who was crying so hard that he could not understand what she was saying. He was able to discern from someone else that the building where his nephew worked had collapsed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He said he rushed to the scene, where he found his sister inconsolable. Many other relatives of workers who had been in the building were also there, praying and being comforted by social workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Msiska said he was shocked at the sight of the building: heaps of concrete pancaked onto the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe there would be some people who would be alive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But there was hope in those initial hours. Rescuers could hear noises beneath the surface and were able to locate victims. Some of the trapped workers were able to make phone calls to loved ones and the authorities. Slowly, people were pulled from the rubble \u2014 alive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A day after the collapse, Vuyokazi Fuba got a phone call that ended what had been a terrifying and tearful 24 hours: It was her brother, 32-year-old Lunga Sindelo, calling from the hospital to say he had survived the collapse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She rushed to go see him, she said. He was physically unharmed, she said, but mentally he was struggling. He was very quiet and still seemed scared.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Fuba said he told her that he had heard a noise and then the building started to shake. The next thing he knew, all the concrete had collapsed around him and he was in the dark, crying. One person died in front of him, Ms. Fuba said he told her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m not good,\u201d she recalled her brother saying. He has since gone to Cape Town, where his other sister lives, to get counseling, Ms. Fuba said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">George, with a population of nearly 300,000, sits in the shadow of the Outeniqua mountain range, along the Indian Ocean. It is part of the Garden Route, a scenic drive that draws a lot of tourists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The building that collapsed was meant to house two-bedroom apartment units that were selling for about 1.7 million rand each (about $92,000), <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2024-05-07-what-is-known-about-erf-15098-victoria-street-in-george-the-site-of-the-deadly-building-collapse\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to local media reports<\/a>. It was slated to open in August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rescue efforts at the site over the past three days have been complicated by the instability of the massive amounts of concrete that piled up around an elevator shaft in a volcano-like mound, according to Colin Deiner, the chief director of disaster management for the Western Cape Province who is leading the rescue operation. He said demolition equipment was being brought to the scene on Thursday to help remove the concrete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Deiner said there were about 200 people on the search team. They had been using seismic equipment and search dogs to try to locate victims, he said, but were no longer picking up any sounds beneath the rubble. On Monday, they spoke to a trapped worker who called from his cellphone, but they had not yet been able to locate him, Mr. Deiner said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Although by international standards the effort should transition from rescue to recovery mode after three days, Mr. Deiner said, he was hopeful that some of the victims could survive longer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the meantime, Mr. Msiska said, he is fielding a lot of calls from relatives in Malawi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEverybody\u2019s waiting for the good news,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd now, I\u2019m even tired of answering the calls from home because I don\u2019t have anything to explain.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, Mr. Msiska said, he remains optimistic that the good news will come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe still have hope,\u201d he said, \u201cand we trust in God.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/09\/world\/africa\/south-africa-george-collapse.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It may not have been his dream, but Gift Kasonda was happy to have been working as a laborer on a construction site in South Africa\u2019s coastal city of George. A recent high school graduate, he had emigrated from Malawi last year and was hoping to save money for college, said his uncle, Gracium Msiska. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/09\/multimedia\/09safrica-collapse-1-gjwm\/09safrica-collapse-1-gjwm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[460,1412,3045,9482,3402,5066,2694,1593,48079,6967],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47402,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47400\/revisions\/47402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}