Durban: At least one person was killed and up to 50 more were trapped under rubble after a half-built shopping mall collapsed near the South African coastal city of Durban, emergency services and domestic media said on Tuesday.
A further 26 people had been taken to hospital in the town of Tongaat, 30 km (20 miles) north of Durban, with "massive traumatic injuries", Chris Botha, a spokesman for the Netcare 911 emergency service, told Reuters.
It was not yet clear what had caused the collapse.
Television footage showed police and rescue workers walking over large piles of rubble and twisted metal lying next to a railway track.
Botha said the second floor of the structure had given way.
"The scene is extremely horrific ... concrete big blocks have fallen on to people," he told broadcaster ENCA from the scene.
"The guys are busy using hydraulic rescue equipment to break through the concrete and get to some of the patients."
