(Reuters) – Rescue workers with sniffer dogs picked through rubble in search of survivors on Wednesday after a soccer pitch-sized section of a half-built mall in Tongaat, South Africa, collapsed, killing at least one and injuring dozens.
It was not immediately clear how many people might be still trapped in the wreckage after the three-storey building in Tongaat, 20 miles north of Durban, collapsed on Tuesday afternoon.
“We have no idea how many are trapped at the moment, but we’ve only got confirmation of three missing,” police spokeswoman Mandy Govender said.
Sniffer dogs had located one “hot spot” area, where workers were using hydraulic rescue tools to try and break through slabs of concrete and steel bars, emergency services spokesman Chris Botha told broadcaster ENCA.
“It was just total chaos when we first arrived here.”
The cause of the collapse was unclear, although district Mayor James Nxumalo said local authorities had obtained a series of court injunctions, the latest on Nov. 14, to halt construction.
“It looks like the company violated all of those court orders and now this tragedy happened,” he told Talk Radio 702.
The owner of the site has been identified as a South African businessman of Indian descent who is well-known in Durban, the second-largest city in the country and home to a large ethnic Indian population.
If safety regulations are found to have been flouted, the accident could hurt the ruling African National Congress as it moves toward an election next year.
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