One person has died and about 50 are
feared trapped after a roof collapsed at the construction site of a South
African shopping mall, officials say.
Rescue teams are working in the dark and using sniffer dogs to
look for survivors beneath the rubble at the site in Tongaat, north of Durban.
About 30 people had been taken to hospital - some with massive
traumatic injuries, paramedics say.
Officials said those trapped were construction workers.
"Rescue operations are becoming extremely difficult in the
dark," rescue operator Neil Powell told the BBC World Service radio
programme Focus on Africa.
Mr Powell said the workers were trapped in a large amount of
rubble and scaffolding.
Workers are trapped
amidst scaffolding and rubble
So far about 30
people have been taken to hospital
The deputy mayor of the municipality told South African media
that authorities had obtained an injunction a month ago to halt construction at
the site.
"There are areas of the law that they [construction firms]
did not follow in terms of building," Nomvuzo Shabalala told broadcaster
ENCA.
"We were not aware that they were continuing
building," she added.
Chris Botha, from the ambulance company Netcare 911, said it was
too early to know the cause of the collapse.
"It is going to be a long operation. It will take time to
get to everyone," he told the BBC.
The accident happened around 16:30 local time (14:30 GMT).
About 100 rescue workers are at the scene, where hydraulic
equipment is being used to break through the concrete blocks.
Tongaat is a small town about 40km (25 miles) north of Durban
and has a large South African Asian population.
Nearby transport routes to Tongaat had been affected as the main
road through the town has been shut to traffic and trains have been stopped, Mr
Powell said.
The four militants behind the Westgate
mall attack in Kenya travelled into the country overland from Somalia in June,
a Western official has told the BBC.
Initially
Jian accused his wife of infidelity, because he knew he could never be the
father of an unattractive child. However, DNA tests proved that the child was
indeed his. Feng’s wife then came clean and admitted she had about $100,000
worth of cosmetic surgery done in South Korea before they met.
(Reuters) - Assailants
from the Central African Republic raided a village in eastern Cameroon but the
army repulsed the attack, killing five gunmen, Cameroon Defence Minister Edgar
Allain Mebe Ngo'o said on Sunday.
