‘I will wait here until my son comes out,” said Deon Safers, the father of Delvin Safers, one of the dozens of workers missing in the rubble of a building that collapsed in George on Monday. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Six dead and 48 missing in devastating George building collapse

“I’m not going home, I’m going nowhere. I don’t even want to eat. I want my boy out of there and I must pray for him and I must hope he will get out of there,” Safers said on Tuesday as he sat outside the George Civic Centre, opposite the remains of the building.  

Deon Safers’ 29-year-old son, Delvin, was working as an electrician at 75 Victoria Street, George, when the building collapsed. Safers had been waiting for more than 24 hours for his son’s rescue. (Photo: Velani Ludidi)

Evening was falling on the second day of rescue efforts for those trapped in the rubble. All around Safers, members of the families of those missing in the rubble waited, wrapped in donated blankets. Many had been there since the early hours of the morning.

Delvin Safers (29) had been working as an electrician at the construction site when the building collapsed.  

“Since yesterday [Monday], from 5.30pm, we communicated with him because he had his cellphone with him. He communicated every hour, every second hour with us to save his battery. Now and then he switched his phone off,” his father said.

“Last night at about 2.15am, his phone went to 10% and he switched his phone off, and this morning at 5.30am he sent a message to his cousin. He said he’s okay, he’s positive but he’s tired and his back is sore and his legs are sore.”

The last message Delvin Safers sent was received by his girlfriend at 3.05pm on Tuesday. He told her he was in a lot of pain.

Recovery efforts will continue throughout the night in George following the collapse of a building that was under construction on Monday. 47 people are still unaccounted for pic.twitter.com/NaQtYOr5yp

— Veve (@LudidiVelani) May 7, 2024

“But we as his family [and] I as his father are very positive. My son will get out there alive. We pray with him and I know he prays with us there inside. I believe he’s a strong boy and I believe he’s a hero because of the fight from yesterday. He can’t use his one arm where he is, he can’t use his legs but he is strong mentally. So, I salute my boy there where he is and I believe he will get out of that rubble,” Safers said.

Rescue personnel clear debris to rescue trapped workers at the collapsed building on Victoria Street in George. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

“It doesn’t matter when he gets out there — I will wait here until my son comes out. And I will thank each and every member here in disaster management for every effort they put in to rescue my son and all his colleagues.”

‘Very devastated’

Earlier on Tuesday, Daily Maverick spoke with Bright Kayuni, who was at the George Civic Centre seeking news of his nephew’s wife, Tiwonge Mhango. She had only started working at the building site the previous Thursday, as a cleaner. She and two friends of Kayuni’s family who were also working there have not been heard from since the collapse.

“At the moment, we are very devastated with the news because we can’t think straight. My nephew is also trying to help there on the side, just trying to find his wife… We don’t know what to do,” Kayuni said.

“[My nephew is] trying to take away the rubble and call the name of his wife so that he can be able to locate her… He has been there since last night.”

Kayuni said it has been challenging to get information about who had been rescued and where they could be found. The family visited the local hospital but were told that they needed to approach the municipality for updates.

Rescue personnel work to clear debris and rescue trapped workers at the collapsed building on Victoria Street in George. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

“We came to the municipality. They also said they can’t give us the full report at the moment because they are just busy rescuing the people and they are also busy trying to treat the people that have been rescued. That’s the only information that we got,” he said.

“We need to know where our family [members] are… We need their names. If they’re in the hospitals … show us so that we can identify them. But it has been very difficult for us.”

48 people still missing

More than 200 emergency services personnel were continuing rescue efforts at the site as of 7.40pm on Tuesday as the operation neared the 30-hour mark. Seven of the 39 people removed from the rubble were dead and 48 were still missing.

Gift of the Givers spokesperson Mario Ferreira told Daily Maverick that the rescue efforts would not be affected by darkness. “We will be on-site as long as it takes. At this stage, I think the three-day time period is optimistic, especially if you look at the wreckage. But we’re aiming for the three days,” Ferreira said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Western Cape’s chief director of disaster management services, Colin Deiner, said that the international standard for the length of this type of rescue effort was three days.

Gift of the Givers members have been providing support for family members of those caught in the collapse. 

“We felt there was a lack of interaction with the families so we personally went and spoke to the families over there, just to get them to keep their hopes up. We’ve supplied them with some sanitary parcels, some toiletries, some blankets,” Ferreira said.

Company named

The executive mayor of George, Leon van Wyk, named the developer of the collapsed five-storey building as the Neo Trend Group. However, on the company’s website, it is named Neo Victoria and Neo Trend Group is listed as part of the marketing team. 

A drone view of the scene of a building collapse where several construction workers are thought to be trapped in George. Photo: Reuters / Shafiek Tassiem

Previously, Daily Maverick reported that the mayor said he was unaware of the developers, engineers and contractors responsible for the site, even though his municipality had approved their plans.

“The plans [for the building] were submitted on 22 December 2022 … and were approved by the municipality on 6 July 2023,” Van Wyk said. He added that the developer had hired a professional team, which included contractors, surveyors and engineers. 

“The municipality would then come back when the building is completed and issue an occupancy certificate for the building to be occupied.” 

Theuns Kruger, the director of Liatel Developments, the contracted builder of the collapsed building, told the George Herald that they were committed to cooperating with authorities to determine the cause of the disaster.

“We are coordinating closely with emergency responders and authorities to provide support and resources for the rescue operations. We are fully committed to cooperating with the authorities to determine the cause of this incident. We will ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted to understand what led to the collapse.

“We at Liatel are deeply saddened by the events that have unfolded in George. Our hearts go out to all those impacted by this tragedy, and we extend our sincerest sympathy to the victims and their families.” DM

This  article was updated on Wednesday at 07.55am.