Twenty people died when an apartment building collapsed under construction in the South African coastal town of George last Monday, May 6, while another 32 are still missing, according to the latest casualty tally released by the municipality. yesterday sunday

In total, 29 people were pulled alive from the wreckage, among them the man who was found and rescued the day before yesterday Saturday, after remaining 116 hours buried in the debris of the construction site. The head of the provincial government, Alan Vide, spoke of a “miracle” for which “we were all hoping” through X.

Since the accident, the causes of which are still unknown, search and rescue crews have been working non-stop in the ruins.

As for the rescue operation, “people have the feeling that we have to move very slowly, especially after what happened yesterday,” Becky Sele, the police minister, told public broadcaster SABC in front of the scene yesterday. of destruction.

Family members of the victims, who have settled in a nearby hotel, complained to the minister about the delay in the identification process, which is done with fingerprints, DNA samples and photographs.

The authorities have not confirmed the information that most of the workers working in the apartment building under construction were foreigners.

However, the government said it had contacted the diplomatic missions of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi and appealed for “psychosocial support” specialists who speak Portuguese, as well as the Shona and Chewa languages, “to assist survivors and their families”.