One person has died and about 50 are feared trapped after a roof collapsed at the construction site of a South African shopping mall, paramedics say.
Private ambulance company Netcare 911 said rescue teams were at the site in Tongaat, a town north of Durban, reports the BBC.
“It is going to be a long operation. It will take time to get to everyone,” Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha told the BBC.
Officials said those trapped were construction workers.
“It was a mall building still under construction; most of those still trapped inside the building were construction workers,” police spokeswoman Mandy Govender told the AFP news agency.
Mr Botha said it was too early to know the cause of the collapse.
He said a further 29 people had been taken to hospital with serious to critical injuries.
The accident happened around 16:30 local time (14:30 GMT), he told the AFP news agency.
Tongaat is a small town about 40km (25 miles) north of Durban surrounded by sugar farms and has a large South African Asian population.
Source: UNBConnect
