[imagesource: Garden Route District Municipality]

Crushed beneath the debris of a five-storey apartment building that crumbled in the Western Cape coastal city of George, Delvin Safers found himself trapped beside the lifeless, eerily silent body of his colleague.

He was dead and Delvin was terrified.

Delvin was one of the 62 workers in the multi-storey building under construction on Victoria Street when it collapsed on May 6. The 29-year-old electrician was rescued by emergency personnel after being trapped underneath the rubble for more than 24 hours.

Safers suddenly remembered his phone in his pocket. With his one free arm, he made a desperate call, offering what he believed would be his final words to his family, convinced he would not survive.

Safers texted his mother to let her know that he was in a “dark place, didn’t have feeling in his legs, and only had 9% on his battery”.

But in the end, he was one of 29 survivors to see the light of day and the warmth of his family again.

Now that the dust has settled, Delvin is keen to share his story with the world, IOL notes.

“From the first moment after the five-storey building collapsed, I was engaged in a difficult but courageous struggle for survival.

“My rescue attempt provided the most dramatic and intense moments of the entire incident,” Safers said.

In the tell-all book he plans to write, Safers will recount his harrowing version of the events that unfolded on that fateful day.

“This story of hope gripped the country, a moving story of how I emerged from under the rubble and tons and tons of concrete and steel,” he said.

Safers feels that what also makes this story so remarkable is the fact that his family cooperated with the rescue workers to save him. The 33 people who died were retrieved from the rubble and were positively identified by their families. Those who were rescued were reunited with their families, while five people remain in hospital.

A team of structural engineers – V3 Consulting Engineers – are leading the Western Cape government’s investigation, which comprises several phases and is still ongoing.

To get the ball rolling on his book, Safers is appealing for any kind of help to complete the interviewing process, research, writing, editing, layout, publishing and promotion.

“The book can also serve as inspiration for many people. Writing the book also serves as good therapy for me, as I am currently undergoing trauma treatment,” Safers said.

Safer is receiving physiotherapy on his right hip and left shoulder and is currently unemployed. If everything goes according to plan, the book is expected to be released in September.

[source:iol]