Skating Rink Accident Traps Kids
South African rescue workers rushed to dig out scores of people, including an eight-month-old baby, trapped Thursday after part of a busy shopping center collapsed.
There were no deaths, but 21 people, mostly adults, were dragged from the rubble at Pretoria's Kolonnade Shopping Center and rushed to the hospital in ambulances and helicopters. The South African Press Association said that injuries included factures, concussions and lacerations.
"It was much like the World Trade Center, dense dust and people running," said Dr. George Michael Scharfs, who was nearby with his wife and children when the first floor of Kolonnade Shopping Center fell onto the skating rink.
"I'm a surgeon so I went in to try to pull out other people, said Scharfs. He said he helped rescue a 2-year-old girl pinned under a steel post. He said the girl was stable but had suffered a leg injury.
An eight-month-old baby girl was among those reported with serious injuries, a rescue official said.
Shiraaz Osman, who owns a shoe store in the mall, said he and his son, Yusuf, barely escaped the destruction of his shop.
"I saw the floor cracking and I rushed him (Yusuf) outside. If it had been two minutes later we would have been in there," Osman told the South African Press Association.
Rescue workers said they believed there were no more trapped people, but sniffer dogs were searching through the rubble.
"Everybody has been rescued, but we are carrying on with the search," said Johan Pieterse, spokesman for Pretoria Emergency Services.
Eyewitnesses said the roof over an ice rink inside the mall collapsed at around 9 a.m. EST. Local radio reported that children had been skating when the roof fell on top of them.
"Mostly adults were injured, but there were about four or five children," Pieterse said.
Marius Du Plessis rushed to the scene after hearing of the collapse on the radio. His 21-year-old son Morne was working in a clothing store near the ice rink.
"I have been trying to contact my son on his mobile phone, but there is only voice mail," Du Plessis told Reuters.
"People don't know what is going on, so we just have to wait," he said.
Rescue workers pulled tables from nearby restaurants and lined them across the rubble in the hopes it would leave passageways for rescue workers if more of the two-story building fell on top of the tables.
Police said it was not clear how the accident occurred. The mall is a large modern complex on the northern edge of Pretoria.
Kolonnade spokeswoman Gerna Van Rooyen said it was not caused by a bomb or explosion and may have been due to unusually heavy rains.
"It could have been much worse. It's a miracle," Van Rooyen told reporters on the scene.
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