A construction worker trapped when a wet concrete slab collapsed was found dead at midnight on Friday after hours of searching.
”Just after midnight we found the body,” Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said on Saturday. ”He was in several metres of concrete that were starting to set.”
The man was part of a construction team building a new shopping centre on Bellairs Drive in North Riding, Johannesburg.
Workers had been pouring concrete for a 25m-by-25m slab for the third floor when it collapsed at 1.30pm on Friday.
”It was 10 hours’ worth of rescue by three fire stations … We rotated crews as we needed to,” said Midgley.
The fire stations involved were from Huntershill, Randburg and Florida Park.
The teams dug through the setting concrete, removing steel reinforcing bars, carting away wheelbarrow-loads of wet concrete and washing more away using high-pressure hoses.
”It’s a major area they were busy pouring and a section of it collapsed. He was on top; they were busy pouring the concrete.”
Midgley said a search-and-rescue dog was also used ”but it’s debatable whether it was any use” because of the concrete. — Sapa