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Eighty-one workers are now confirmed to have been on site when a building collapsed in the South African coastal city of George - that's more than the 75 previously thought.

The local authority confirmed the new figure citing a review of contractors’ safety records.

It comes as South African police and disaster relief groups race against time to find dozens of people who are still unaccounted for after the unfinished five-storey apartment building collapsed three days ago.

In a statement, the local authority said a total of 37 people have so far been retrieved, with eight deaths and 44 people still unaccounted for.

Mario Ferreira, area representative for Africa's biggest disaster relief organisation, Gift of the Givers, told Newsday how the organisation is working alongside the police.

"Everybody is in awe. You have people crying, you have people praying. At this stage everybody is just hoping."

(Pic: Rescue workers at the site of a collapsed building in George, South Africa; Credit: Herman Pienaar)

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