George Municipality, South Africa - May 7, 2024

Storyline:
Rescue work is underway after a multi-story building under construction collapsed in George in South Africa on Monday killing at least seven construction workers with at least 47 still trapped beneath the rubble.

According to local authorities, 75 construction workers were present on the site when the building collapsed on Monday afternoon in the coastal city of George, located about 400 kilometers east of Cape Town in the Western Cape province.

According to the Western Cape government, more than 100 emergency personnel are currently involved in the rescue operation to retrieve the trapped construction workers, aided by several volunteers and civil society groups.

George’s mayor said they are facing difficulties in the rescue operations, but are doing their best to save the lives.

The South African government has announced a comprehensive investigation into the incident to determine the cause and prevent a repeat of the disaster.

Shotlist:
George Municipality, Western Cape Province, South Africa - May 7, 2024:
1. Various of rescuers, collapsed building;
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mario Ferreira, rescuer (partially overlaid with shot 3):
"We dispatched our sniffer dogs from Cape Town who arrived here last night. They've been in action. They've been very successful, they sniffed out a couple of people that was taken alive from the actual wreckage of the building. So the anticipation basically is obviously to get people out as quickly as possible with least damage to them.";
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
3. Rescuers;
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
4. Various of rescuers;
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Leon Van Wyk, mayor, George Municipality (ending with shot 6):
"The difficulty that you have is what piece of the construction activity can you move and which can't you move. And of course, if you move some of that, you may well cause injury to people down below because of the instability of that type of site you don't know what is going to happen."
6. Various of rescuers, excavators.

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