Durban - One person remains officially unaccounted for after the collapse of a shopping mall under construction in Tongaat, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Thursday.
Lieutenant Mandy Govender said police had so far only been informed of one person missing.
However, police could not rule out that others were buried beneath the football pitch-sized area of the mall that collapsed on Tuesday. A woman was killed and 29 people were injured.
"We are not ruling out that there were other people on site, but only one contractor has told us that they are missing an employee," Govender said.
A crane was removing rubble on the site on Thursday as members of the police search and rescue unit watched. Three workers were planting poles for a fence around the mall.
Lieutenant Jack Haskins of the Pietermaritzburg K9 search and rescue unit said late on Thursday afternoon the dogs had picked up one scent.
"But it's coming from under the slab. It could be 20 metres away. We don't know, but we will have to clear more rubble before we can send in the dogs to find out what it is."
The scent could come from a body or from an item with blood on it and was left behind by one of the rescued workers taken to hospital.
On Wednesday, eThekwini metro mayor James Nxumalo told reporters the developers and owners of the property, Rectangular Property Investments, never sought any permission to complete the mall.
He said construction went on despite no building plans ever having been approved. The municipality took the matter to the High Court in Durban and was granted an order on November 14 directing Rectangular Property Investments to suspend all building work.
The firm Gralio Construction, which was building the mall and some of whose workers were among the injured, could not be reached for comment.
A receptionist said: "I have just been asked to take messages and someone will get back to you." No one did.
KwaZulu-Natal chief labour inspector Abey Raspae confirmed no other bodies had been found. He said the department had not been told how many people had not been accounted for.
Govender said a culpable homicide docket had been opened. She said this was standard procedure in the event of a death and it was too early to say who would be charged.
Labour department spokesman Nhlanhla Khumalo said activities at the site had been stopped for the day and would resume on Friday.
The mall was scheduled to open in March next year.
Sapa