Rescuers in KwaZulu-Natal stopped digging on Saturday afternoon as bad weather closed in. A fifth body had been located under the rubble of a collapsed Hindu temple, but crews had spent two days trying to reach it.
Four people are confirmed dead after the four-storey New Ahobilam Temple of Protection partly caved in on Friday. The temple sits on a steep hill in Redcliffe, north of eThekwini, the city formerly known as Durban. Workers were on site expanding the building when a section gave way. A construction worker and a devotee were the first deaths confirmed that day. More bodies were recovered on Saturday, bringing the toll to four.
Among the dead is a 52-year-old man of Indian origin, PTI reported, citing officials. Local media named one of the victims as Vickey Jairaj Panday, an executive member of the temple trust and the manager of the construction project. Those reports said he had been closely involved in building the temple since work began almost two years ago. Sanvir Maharaj, director of Food for Love, a charity affiliated to the temple, confirmed Panday’s death.
Nobody has given a firm count of the workers and temple officials who may still be buried under tonnes of debris.
“At this stage, it cannot be confirmed whether additional individuals remain trapped beneath the rubble,” said Prem Balram, a spokesperson for Reaction Unit South Africa.
Early in the operation, rescuers followed cellphone calls from one of the trapped people. The calls stopped late on Friday evening.
Questions over approval
The eThekwini municipality said in a statement that it had never approved building plans for the project, which points to unauthorised construction.
The temple was meant to look like a cave, built with rocks brought from India and others excavated at the site. The family behind it had said it would hold one of the largest deities of Lord Nrsimhadeva anywhere in the world.
Thulasizwe Buthelezi, the provincial minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, visited the site on Saturday. He promised the search would carry on as long as needed, though experts told him there was little hope of finding more survivors. He thanked the combined government and private teams at the scene, among them a special dog unit sent from the Western Cape.
