George building collapse: how ER24 helped save lives

In the aftermath of the tragic George building collapse earlier this year, ER24 worked tirelessly with other rescue services on scene to save lives.

George is a tranquil city on the Garden Route renowned as a popular holiday destination and for being the commercial hub of the region. But the city was rocked on 6 May 2024 when a building under construction mysteriously collapsed, with 62 construction workers on site.

ER24’s Southern Cape branch is one building away from the site of the disaster. “At first, I thought someone was drilling,” says ER24 Branch Manager Randall De Koker of the strange sounds he heard. “Then shortly afterwards, someone came running and shouting that we need to help because a building nearby had just collapsed.”

Plan of action

De Koker says the ER24 crew could see the dust settling on the site from a window of their building. “I instantly knew this was serious, and immediately grabbed one of my colleagues and went to the site.”

Initially he thought no one was on site at the time of the collapse, but bystanders quickly reported that there were workers trapped inside. “We usually deal with motor vehicle accidents and people falling ill or hurting themselves at home. This was something completely different, but we thought fast and started putting together the best setup we could think of,” he says.

The first point of action for De Koker was to find those who were wounded but could walk. “Once we established that they could move without further injuring themselves, we assisted them to a spot where they could be triaged properly.”

The next urgent step was setting up triage units. They created stations for different levels of patient trauma: green, yellow and red. The green was for the “walking wounded,” and the yellow and red were for those who were injured more severely and couldn’t walk.

Focus on triage

The injuries sustained ranged from chest trauma to rib fractures, head injuries, as well as deep lacerations and abrasions. But De Koker couldn’t treat any of the injured as he normally would because there were so many. “As a paramedic, once I treat a patient, as a rule, I’m committed to sticking with the patient until I hand them over to a doctor. But with so many wounded people coming out of the collapsed building, and no doctors on scene at the time, I couldn’t risk committing to only one patient.” This meant that De Koker and his team focused on triaging and placing every survivor they found in their respective colour category, ready to be treated when more help arrived.

Communication was difficult as well. Besides language barriers, the ER24 team also had to deal with patients so shocked that they couldn’t speak. “Some of the workers were in such shock they actually fled the scene.”

Over and above these challenges, members of the public had also gathered at the scene. “Because the incident occurred in the city, bystanders flocked to see what was going on, making the scene difficult to control,” says De Koker. This was aggravated by the fact that many of the workers’ families also made their way to the site looking for news of their loved ones. Add to this the human instinct to want to help, and the ER24 team were further burdened with keeping the public away from what was a dangerous scene.

Digging in the rubble

Once the walking wounded were accounted for, De Koker and his team started to dig through the rubble with their hands, searching for survivors buried beneath it. This was because digging machines hadn’t arrived yet, and they didn’t want to upset the structure and cause a further collapse.

They found many survivors that way, but the deeper they dug, the longer it took to locate people. “Eventually it took 3-5 hours before we found anyone,” says De Koker. He says the waiting was frustrating, especially because he was concerned about the winter temperatures. He knew the trapped would be cold, which can also be fatal in such a situation. “I was hoping to get everyone out by nightfall to prevent them from suffering in the evening chill. But we needed to wait until further help arrived,” he explains.

Help eventually arrives

Eventually help did arrive, and it came from all over the Western Cape in the form of other EMS services, the Fire Department, SAPS, and doctors from the public and private sectors.  “One of the most amazing things was that everyone came to assist,” says De Koker. “Even medics who were off duty.”

After two days and nights of relentless work, De Koker was exhausted and eventually went home. “As much as I wanted to stay, I just couldn’t hold out anymore and needed to rest,” he says, although he returned to the scene afterwards.

Hope and unity amid disaster

The one positive thing disaster does is bring people together, and the George building collapse was no different. De Koker says people helped in many ways, and not just physically. “The community of George really came out to assist us, bringing food, helping feed those working the scene, or even cleaning the toilets put up for the guys to use. There were so many people who volunteered time and resources.”

Through the intense searching, digging, and treating, De Koker recalls a particularly heartwarming incident. This happened when rescue teams pulled a survivor named Gabriel from the rubble, who had been trapped underground for seven days. When they finally got him out, he thought he had only been stuck for two. He told paramedics he had slept a lot during his time underground, but also spent a large part of it praying.

Tragically, the disaster went on to claim the lives of 34 people, but thanks to the collective efforts of the ER24 paramedics, other rescue services, civil organisations, and members of the public, many precious lives were also saved.

In any emergency, call ER24 on 084 124 for real help, real fast.