MIRACLE RESCUE
Sniffer dogs find survivor on day five of rescue effort, but hopes dim for 39 people still missing
● Tears streaked dust-caked faces as Gabriel Guambe was rescued alive yesterday after being trapped for 118 hours under 3,000 tonnes of rubble in the George building collapse, one of the country’s deadliest construction disasters. Sniffer dogs identified his location.
The five-storey apartment block — which would have featured “iconic mountain views ”— collapsed on Monday with 81 workers believed to have been on site. The tragedy set in motion a rescue operation involving up to 700 people in a race against time, gripping the nation and galvanising residents to pitch in.
At 3pm yesterday 39 people remained unaccounted for. The known death toll stood at 13, and of the 29 known survivors, 14 were still in hospital. The painstaking rescue and recovery operation is expected to continue this week.
Western Cape premier Alan Winde described yesterday’s rescue as “nothing short of a miracle” and said there were scenes of jubilation on the site.
Disaster management chief Colin Deiner said a sniffer dog led rescuers to Guambe, a tiler. He had been trapped in a confined space without food or water.
“He was quite alert and was sounding OK. He told us that he had some weight on his legs. We were very scared — if we released him too quickly — so we had two surgeons come in,” he said. Rescue technicians sent down a camera and light, then gave water to Guambe.
Rescue personnel and volunteers cheered and clapped as he was driven by ambulance to hospital, with the sound of heavy excavation machinery in the background.
In a Facebook post by the George munipality, Guambe speaking from his hospital bed said: “Hello guys, I’m OK now. I’m OK.”
Speaking to the Sunday Times by phone, his father Cardaso said: “I’m glad my son is alive. I’m looking forward to coming to George on Monday.”
Provincial health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo told SABC news the man was “talking, sharing his experiences and also about who he was. There was no blood, the team was checking his vital signs and indicated they were fine.”
She said the most overwhelming part was that he had been in contact with other trapped workers nearby who were extracted earlier in the week. The rescue team had assured everybody they would return and when they did, there was elation, she added.
Garden Route joint operations centre spokesperson Rowena van Wyk confirmed that Guambe, in his 30s, was from Johannesburg. Authorities contacted his father and were making arrangements for him to travel to George.
Ahmed Bham, head of search and rescue for Gift of the Givers who has been involved in 17 such missions worldwide — including after the earthquakes in Haiti and Türkiye — said the first 72 hours were considered the critical or acute phase of a rescue.
“Immediately after a structural collapse or disaster, you get untrained people — those who are around when an incident occurs and are not seriously hurt — who try to help before search and rescue teams are mobilised.
“Then the rapid teams respond, relying on sight and sound with basic equipment such as cameras to detect survivors. At 24 hours to 48 hours, and up to 72 hours, chances of rescue are easier because survivors, depending on their injury, are more likely to be able to call for help and be alert,” Bham said.
“Thereafter we go into the intermediate phase where chances are diminishing and so we bring in additional equipment and sniffer dogs to assist with locating survivors.”
At this time, he said, survivors would probably be suffering from crush injuries, broken bones, trauma — including blood loss from lacerations and puncture wounds from steel beams and rods — and the onset of in
He was quite alert and was sounding OK. He told us that he had some weight on his legs. We were very scared
— if we released him too quickly — so we had two surgeons come in
fections.
Bham said after 72 hours, as the odds of survival grew longer, recovery teams were usually brought in with heavy machinery to remove rubble and sniffer dogs trained in finding cadavers were deployed.
But there were miracles, as in the case of Ena Zizi, 69, who was buried under a collapsed cathedral in quake-hit Haiti and was rescued after seven days. She had no bleeding or crush injuries but was dehydrated.
Rescuing people with crush injuries posed special challenges, he said.
“You are lying out there with concrete slabs causing a huge pressure on you and stopping blood flow for several hours or days. If there is the slightest release of pressure, the fast flow of blood could lead to rhabdomyolysis, which is a major shock and kidney failure after a crushing injury. This could be very dangerous and you have to address that before you can move the rubble and rescue the survivor.”
This was the case for Guambe, who had to have surgeons on hand before he could be released from the rubble.
George municipality said the rescue brought “new hope, and teams have found new energy to continue with rescue and recovery operations. The survivor was extricated cautiously and transported to the hospital after being stabilised by the on-site medical team.”
The municipality appealed on behalf of survivors and families for professional psychosocial support practitioners who are proficient in Chewa — which is widely spoken in Malawi — Portuguese and Shona to offer their services.
At least three independent investigations have been launched into the collapse of the building, which had been slated to open in August. Questions were raised this week about the developer, Neotrend, after its website and social media pages went offline.
Labour minister Thulas Nxesi said earlier in the week that officials had struggled to reach Neotrend.
But an attorney acting for the company sent a written response to the Sunday Times saying: “Our client is the developer of the building project and not the building contractor. The building contractor was appointed by our client to attend to the construction of the building. As a result, our client had no employees involved on the premises. All workers employed on the site during the collapse were employed either by the contractor or subcontractor.
“Our client commits to render assistance wherever possible and is committed to cooperate with all investigations. Our client is committed to contribute towards salaries to assist the contractor,” the letter read.
Liatel Developments, the contractor, said it was deeply saddened. Company director Theuns Kruger told the Sunday Times’s sister publication The Herald: “Our main priority is to assist the ongoing rescue efforts in any way possible. We are co-ordinating closely with emergency responders and authorities to provide support and resources for the rescue operations.” It has promised to assist authorities in investigating the cause of the collapse.