At least Five people died and almost 50 remain trapped in the rubble after a multi-story building under construction collapsed on Monday in western South Africa, in the town of George, a coastal city in the west of the country. This was confirmed this Tuesday by the president, Cyril Ramaphosain a statement where he expressed his condolences to the victims’ relatives.

The search and rescue efforts for survivors are in a delicate phase, after having managed to help 24 people who have been transferred to hospitals in the province, he told the local press. Anton Bredell, Minister of Local Administration and Environmental Affairs of the Western Cape province, where the accident occurred.

“We have established communication with some of the victims, at least 10 people (…). They are trapped in the void and it is a struggle to reach them,” added Bredell. As he told the media, “there is a lot of pressure, a lot of tension because it has been a very long night for all the families.”

The collapse occurred shortly after 2:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT) on Monday in george, in the Western Cape province, according to local authorities. Around 70 construction workers were in the building, adjacent to the municipal government headquarters.

“The structure was a building with about four or five floors. It looked like an apartment block,” George municipal government spokesperson Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe told local media.

Rescue teams from the Western Cape province and other parts of the country, as well as the NGO Gift of the Givers They continue searching and trying to rescue survivors, using microphones to locate trapped people and removing rubble brick by brick to reach them. The causes of the accident are still unknown, the investigation of which “must aim to prevent a repetition of this disaster,” said Ramaphosa.