Rescue operations passed the 64-hour mark with 37 retrieved workers, of whom eight were deceased, 16 in critical condition, six with life-threatening injuries and seven sustaining minor injuries.
The municipality said the emergency response team was now implementing more substantive concrete breakers and deploying additional trucks to remove building rubble from the site as 44 people were still unaccounted for.
Employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi is expected to visit the site on Thursday for an update from rescuers and the department's occupational health and safety inspectors.
TimesLIVE
George building collapse: Six more people were on site than initial count
44 people still unaccounted for, says municipality
Image: Herman Pieters, Garden Route District Municipality
The Garden Route district joint operational centre has established that 81 people were on site when a building under construction in George collapsed on Monday.
George municipality spokesperson Chantel Edwards-Klose said on Thursday this followed intensive discussions and scrutiny of the safety records with the responsible contractors.
The number of workers at the Victoria Street site was previously reported as 75.
Rescue operations passed the 64-hour mark with 37 retrieved workers, of whom eight were deceased, 16 in critical condition, six with life-threatening injuries and seven sustaining minor injuries.
The municipality said the emergency response team was now implementing more substantive concrete breakers and deploying additional trucks to remove building rubble from the site as 44 people were still unaccounted for.
Employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi is expected to visit the site on Thursday for an update from rescuers and the department's occupational health and safety inspectors.
TimesLIVE
MORE:
‘I thought I was dying under the stones and sand’: Worker saved from George building collapse
Rescue workers and volunteers push through exhaustion to continue search
Survivor recounts moment he emerged from George building collapse
Families still harbour hope 48 hours after George building collapse
LISTEN | Search and rescue operations continue at collapsed George building
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