Several trapped after South African building collapses

State-owned broadcaster SABC reported that more than 40 people were trapped under the rubble.

The Western Cape provincial government said it was monitoring the situation.

"At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage," it said in a statement.

"A number of workers we believe are trapped inside ... many more workers (are) down below," George Mayor Leon van Wyk told SABC from the site.

"This is going to be a really lengthy exercise and probably going to go right through the night," he said. (Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Tannur Anders in Johannesburg and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; editing by Estelle Shirbon and Alex Richardson)