VERULAM, South Africa — At least two people were killed and six others remained trapped beneath rubble Friday after a multi-story building under illegal construction collapsed onto a Hindu temple in this town north of Durban, South Africa, prompting a massive rescue operation as survivors communicated their locations to family members via cellphone from beneath the debris.
Eight injured individuals have been treated and transported to nearby hospitals, while rescue teams continue efforts to locate those still buried under concrete and twisted metal, local authorities said.
The EThekwini Municipality said in a statement that preliminary investigations revealed no building plans had been approved and the structure appeared to be under construction illegally. “Several injuries and entrapments” occurred, and rescue teams were deployed to the site, the municipality said.
The building being constructed atop the temple was three or four stories high and appeared to be an extension of the religious facility, according to Prem Balram, an official with the privately operated Reaction Unit South Africa security and emergency response company, who spoke with national broadcaster SABC.
Whether those trapped include construction workers, temple worshippers, or both remained unclear Friday evening, Balram said. He indicated that one of the temple owners might be among those buried under the rubble, though he did not identify them by name.
Some trapped individuals were communicating with family members on cellphones, providing information about their locations beneath the collapsed structure, Balram told SABC. Emergency responders from his company were working alongside official rescue teams in what he characterized as a “mammoth task” to extract survivors.
The temple sits atop a hill overlooking a ranch. Photographs released by the municipality showed twisted metal beams, collapsed pillars and massive piles of rubble where the structure once stood.
Xinhua reported that rescue operations continued through Friday evening as teams worked methodically to reach those still believed alive beneath the debris. The complexity of the collapse, with multiple floors pancaked onto the temple below, has complicated extraction efforts and raised fears about the stability of remaining sections.
The Associated Press confirmed that authorities did not immediately specify the exact number of people trapped, though initial reports from emergency response officials indicated approximately six individuals remained buried. The discrepancy between preliminary casualty figures and confirmed numbers reflects the chaotic nature of the rescue scene and the difficulty of accounting for everyone who may have been present when the structure failed.
The illegal nature of the construction raises serious questions about regulatory enforcement and oversight in the rapidly developing areas surrounding Durban. The EThekwini Municipality’s confirmation that no building plans had been approved suggests construction proceeded without permits, inspections, or compliance with safety codes designed to prevent exactly this type of catastrophic failure.
South Africa has experienced recurring building collapses involving unauthorized or substandard construction. Last year, more than 30 construction workers died when an apartment building under construction collapsed in the city of George on South Africa’s south coast. Rescuers searched for more than a week for survivors following that disaster, which an investigation later determined resulted from design flaws, use of substandard construction materials, and negligence, the Associated Press reported.
The George collapse prompted calls for stricter enforcement of building codes and more rigorous oversight of construction projects, particularly those involving multi-story structures. Friday’s temple collapse suggests those reforms have either not been implemented or have failed to prevent unauthorized construction from proceeding.
The decision to construct a multi-story addition atop an existing temple raises additional structural concerns. Adding substantial weight and height to a building not originally designed to support such loads can compromise the foundation and load-bearing capacity of the original structure. Without proper engineering assessments and reinforcement, such expansions risk catastrophic failure.
Religious facilities in South Africa sometimes undertake construction projects through community fundraising and volunteer labor rather than engaging licensed contractors and architects. While such community-driven efforts reflect dedication and resourcefulness, they can result in construction that fails to meet safety standards or obtain required permits, particularly when cost considerations take precedence over regulatory compliance.
The use of cellphones by trapped survivors to communicate their locations represents both hope and urgency for rescue teams. Knowing victims remain alive and conscious beneath the rubble intensifies pressure to reach them before injuries worsen, air supplies diminish, or shifting debris causes further harm. However, cellphone signals also guide rescuers to specific locations, potentially accelerating extraction efforts.
The “mammoth task” characterization reflects the dangerous and painstaking nature of collapse rescue operations. Teams must carefully remove debris without triggering secondary collapses that could kill both victims and rescuers. Heavy equipment can destabilize remaining structures, while manual excavation proceeds slowly. Rescuers must balance speed against safety as they work to reach people whose survival may depend on swift action.
The toll of two confirmed dead and six trapped, plus eight injured, suggests the collapse occurred when multiple people were present at the site. Whether the building housed equipment, materials, or people for religious services when it failed will determine whether the casualty count could rise significantly as rescue operations continue.
For Verulam’s Hindu community, the temple collapse represents both a human tragedy and the loss of a sacred space central to religious and cultural life. Temples serve as gathering places for worship, festivals, and community events, making their destruction particularly devastating for congregations that invested years of effort and resources in their construction and maintenance.
The incident also highlights broader challenges facing South African municipalities struggling to enforce building codes amid rapid urbanization, limited resources, and sometimes inadequate coordination between permitting offices and enforcement agencies. Illegal construction often proceeds undetected until disaster strikes, by which point regulatory failures have already enabled the conditions for tragedy.
As rescue operations extend into the night, families of the trapped wait anxiously for news while emergency responders work systematically through debris fields. The outcome of these efforts will determine whether the current death toll of two represents the final casualty figure or merely the beginning of a larger tragedy that could have been prevented through proper permitting, inspection, and enforcement of construction standards.
Sources: AP/Xinhua
