Rescuers raced against time to find more survivors amid the rubble of a deadly building collapse in South Africa on Wednesday, as search operations entered their third day.
Dozens of people were still unaccounted for, more than 50 hours after rescue services started combing through the debris in George.
At least eight people were killed as an under-construction five-storey building collapsed on Monday for reasons that are yet to be determined.
Rescue works briefly halted on Wednesday, as rescuers tried to find the source of a “sound or tapping” coming from under the shattered concrete slabs, said George’s mayor Leon Van Wyk.
But hopes were quickly fading, as chances of surviving drop dramatically after 72 hours, he said.
Operations were to enter the “body recovering” phase over the next day “as opposed to rescue”, Van Wyk told national broadcaster SABC.
Twenty-nine of the 75 workers who were at the site when the incident occurred have been pulled out of the rubble alive. Six have life-threatening injuries, and 16 are in critical condition.
The tally remained unchanged for most of the day on Wednesday, but in the evening, authorities said they had retrieved another body bringing the death toll to eight.
Thirty-eight people remained unaccounted for.
