News24 | UPDATE | Ormonde collapse death toll rises to 8 as developers go AWOL

The death toll of the building collapse in Ormonde, in the south of Johannesburg, has risen to eight.

• On Tuesday, the death toll of the building collapse in Ormonde, in the south of Johannesburg, rose to eight.
• Joburg emergency services said they were still searching for the missing ninth person.
• City manager Floyd Brink warned that action would be taken against municipal officials who allegedly gave the company the go-ahead to proceed with the development.

The Ormonde building collapse death toll has risen to eight, emergency services officials said on Tuesday morning.

This comes after two more bodies were located, according to EMS spokesperson Xolile Khumalo. One has already been recovered.

“Efforts continue to extract the other located body,” Khumalo added.

A ninth person remains unaccounted for.

On Monday, six people were confirmed dead after a section of the two-storey building in Ormonde, in the south of Johannesburg, collapsed on them while they were working on the ground floor.

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Twelve construction workers were on site at the building at the time of its collapse.

During a visit to the scene on Monday, city manager Floyd Brink said that there were no approved building plans for the structure.

He warned that action would be taken against municipal officials who allegedly gave the company the go-ahead to proceed with the development.

Brink said the City was also tracing the owners of the construction company and engineers, who had allegedly since vanished.

Brink said at the time:

Brink also revealed that the building had been erected illegally beneath an electricity servitude line, adding that preliminary findings suggested there might have been an internal dereliction of duty, which would form part of the investigation.

On Monday night, a man who asked not to be identified told News24 that his father and cousin were among those who were involved in the building collapse.

Accompanied by a friend, the distraught man repeatedly approached emergency personnel and police officers, seeking confirmation on whether his loved ones were alive.

As the first body was loaded into a state pathology vehicle, he attempted to run towards it but was restrained by officers.

“I arrived here from work after hearing the news from a relative. I don’t know if my father and cousin are alive or not,” he said.

He described his father as an experienced construction worker with many years of industry experience.