NEARLY 40 construction workers were still missing today in the rubble of a building that collapsed in South Africa on Monday as rescue teams continued to search for survivors for a third day in the wreckage of the unfinished five-storey block of flats.

Seven workers have been confirmed dead, while authorities in the city of George on South Africa’s south coast released new information on the injuries, saying 16 of the 29 people rescued from the debris were in a critical condition in hospitals and another six had life-threatening injuries.

They said 39 workers were still unaccounted for and buried in the rubble of concrete and mangled metal scaffolding.