Details about the woman’s fall were unclear and would be investigated by local authorities, say police.
|||Durban - A 35-year-old woman plunged 110m to her death down Howick Falls on Friday morning.
“Rescue workers abseiled to the bottom of the falls where the woman was found,” said Vanessa Jackson of ER24.
“They pulled her from the water and it was evident she had already succumbed to the massive traumatic injuries she had sustained. Her remains were placed in a specialised stretcher and pulled to the top.”
Police spokesperson Colonel Jay Naicker said details about the woman’s fall were unclear and would be investigated by local authorities.
However, people close to the scene spoke of her having left a cellphone and a R20 note at the top of the falls, a spot where women from the nearby Shiyabazali informal settlement frequently wash clothes.
Naicker said rescuers, who included the SAP K9 Search and Rescue team as well as the SAPS Search and Rescue team from Pietermaritzburg, pulled her from the water.
“It was evident that she had already succumbed to the massive injuries,” he said.
Trainee tourism guide Lungile Sibisi said a coach carrying tourists from the Netherlands arrived when the rescue teams were busy.
“We told them about the tragedy and they agreed to return in the afternoon to see the falls,” he said.
Howick Falls has been the site of a number of suicides and attempted suicides over the years.
In June last year, a local fireman rescued a woman who was spotted by tourism volunteers edging her way into fast-flowing water near the lip of the waterfall. She had just come from the local court where a magistrate had heard a family dispute and advised them to resolve their differences.
Howick police have opened an inquest docket. - Independent on Saturday