News24 | UPDATE | Ballito worker found alive in dramatic hours-long rescue operation

Three construction workers were killed and two others are missing and presumed dead after an embankment collapsed in Ballito on Saturday. (Supplied/IPSS Medical Rescue)

A construction worker who was trapped beneath tons of soil for hours - the result of a massive landslide at a worksite in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal - was found alive on Saturday afternoon. 

He is still trapped, but medics are working to free him.

Four other men died in the accident in which parts of a hillside collapsed in Zen Drive in the coastal hamlet. 

IPSS spokesperson Samantha Meyrick said that the bodies of four men had been freed and that the fifth man had initially been presumed dead. 

But she later provided an update: "He was found alive. He is currently in the care of IPSS advanced life support paramedics."

His condition is unknown.

"The Air Mercy Services Helicopter has been activated to fly the patient to an appropriate facility for further care. They will be landing near scene shortly," Meyrick added.

By the time the man was found, firefighters, paramedics and police rescue personnel had been at the scene for several hours. 

In much of that time, the search had to be suspended because of several secondary landslides that saw portions of unstable earth come loose.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the surviving victim remains trapped.