Emergency workers dug through rubble in Johannesburg yesterday after part of a hospital’s roof collapsed, reportedly trapping several patients.
Others were removed from wards, health officials said of the incident in an area near the maternity department of the Charlotte Maxeke hospital.
Local television showed images of men sifting through debris including mangled corrugated iron in a devastated atrium area.
“Rescue services are still digging in the rubble which is quite a painstakingly slow process,” ER24 spokesman Russel Meiring told AFP. “Initial reports show there were several patients trapped beneath the rubble. That cannot be confirmed at this moment. ER24 services has several vehicles on the scene.”
The main opposition Democratic Alliance party claimed that stones had been shifted onto the roof that collapsed.
The roof caved at the hospital reception area as construction workers were trying to seal a leak after a heavy storm, officials said.
Five people suffered minor injuries and it was not clear how many people were still trapped.
Two of the injured were patients, two were construction workers while one person was a hospital staff member.
The Charlotte Maxeke is a large public general hospital in central Johannesburg, named after a social worker and activist who died in 1939.
The hospital, one of South Africa’s biggest, is nicknamed Joburg Gen and is used for academic purposes due to its proximity to the University of the Witwatersand.
“We’re not sure how many people are trapped. At the moment the rescue team is on site clearing the debris as fast and as safely as they can,” Gwen Ramokgopa, the head of the provincial health department, said at the hospital.
She said contractors “were working to seal the roof because it was leaking and the structure caved in”.
State hospitals in South Africa have been struggling with persistent underfunding for staff, equipment and facilities.
The roof collapse comes amid public outrage at the provincial health department over the deaths of at least 94 psychiatric patients who died after being moved from a licenced home to unregistered facilities.
An emergency worker and firefighters are seen at Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke state hospital.
