The number people who have succumbed to injuries in the George building collapse incident has risen to seven.

This was confirmed by the George Municipality in the Western Cape this morning. According to a report released by the municipality the tally of retrieved patients has risen to 36, this means that 39 people are still stuck under the rubble as the search continues. "Rescue operations at the building collapse site on Victoria Street continue with a multi-disciplinary rescue team of more than 200 emergency services. Seven patients have been declared deceased. 75 construction workers were present on the site at the time of the collapse which occurred at on Monday afternoon. The rescue operation is now approaching 39 hours," the report reads.

Western Cape Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs MEC, Anton Bredell, said that they were still looking for manpower as the emergency team that is on site has been working for more than 30 hours. "We are still waiting for other emergency teams that are coming from Cape Town and Johannesburg to come and add help to the current situation. Our team is exhausted as you know that they have been here on site since the day of the incident. We are also waiting on other bigger machines that will enable us to move the rubble so that the bodies that are stuck underground can be retrieved faster," he said. Bredell further revealed that the municipality has appointed an independent law firm to investigate the building collapse matter urgently. "We cannot be in position to comment on the matter for now as the municipality has appointed an independent law firm to investigate. Once the report is there, we will brief the nation about their findings and the way forward," he said.