JOHANNESBURG — The number of people killed in a building collapse in the South African city of Johannesburg has risen to nine, emergency services and city officials reported Tuesday, while the government readies to demolish the building saying it was erected illegally.
Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson Xolile Khumalo said two more bodies had been recovered and one other body has been located in the rubble.
“The teams are busy extracting him from under the concrete rubble,” she said.
Johannesburg public safety official, Mgcini Tshwaku, confirmed that a total of nine bodies had been confirmed from the fallen building at a business park in the south of Johannesburg.
Part of the building was under construction when the floor on an upper level of the building, in the suburb of Ormonde, gave way Monday and fell onto people below it, killing six people and leaving others trapped.
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero said preliminary investigations revealed that no formal plans were submitted to the city for the building structure, flouting city by-laws and building control. He said an investigation into the causes is underway and it is expected to be followed by the demolition of the illegal structure.
“In terms of our bylaws we are empowered to then demolish in that instance,” Morero told reporters at the scene. “Once all processes have been concluded then the demolition will happen.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa offered condolences to the families of the deceased and the survivors. In a statement he said that he anticipates an investigation into the collapse would provide answers to survivors and the relatives of the deceased.
Building collapses are regarded as a major and persistent safety risk in the South African construction sector, which features among the top four high-risk sectors in the country, according to the department of employment and labour.
Numerous, occasionally fatal building collapses have occurred in recent years, such as the May 2024 collapse in the coastal city of George that claimed 34 lives. An investigation found multiple failures, including breaches of safety regulations, were responsible for that tragedy.
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