Tongaat - Efforts to rescue about 50 workers feared trapped on Tuesday after a roof collapse at a Tongaat shopping mall, north of Durban, could take all night, paramedics said.
“It will take a very long time, we probably looking at an all night stint,” Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha told eNCA.
About a 100 metres of concrete slabs which were about 18 inches thick had crashed to the ground.
He said it was a mangled mess under the concrete.
Some survivors had already been found and taken to hospital.
Botha said he hoped that others would be found alive.
The shopping mall was under construction.
“We have an unconfirmed number of 50 people 1/8trapped inside 3/8. It is a shopping mall which was under construction,” he said.
Ethekwini fire department chief Mark te Water confirmed a building had collapsed in the area. Workmen were trapped and his department had dispatched units to the scene, Te Water said.
Sapa