South Africa: Rescue operations continue to save dozens trapped in building collapse

Rescue teams searching for dozens of construction workers missing after an apartment complex collapsed in South Africa brought out more survivors Tuesday as they entered a second night of desperate work to find anyone alive in the wreckage.

At least seven people have been confirmed dead. 

“Firstly, doing what we call a line analysis. So, you walk through the whole area and you try and hear people and we were hearing people shouting through the rubble. So, that was, that was the first point, and then the dogs come in and the dogs do a verification. Once the dogs verify that there's somebody, we have high-tech equipment that we can start triangulating and pinpointing where the victim is trapped, and then from there, we start working. It is very, very difficult if you are working with concrete breakers and drillers and that kind of thing

Authorities said 26 workers had now been rescued from the site where the five-story building collapsed Monday while under construction in George, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town on South Africa’s south coast. An additional 42 people are believed to be still buried in the debris of concrete and metal scaffolding.

Rescuers were hopeful of more people being found alive after saying earlier that they had made contact with at least 11 workers trapped in the rubble and were communicating with them.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many of those had been rescued but five survivors were brought out on Tuesday, adding to the 21 found on Monday, according to a count provided by city authorities. There were 75 construction workers on the site when the building collapsed.