A five-year-old boy from Gauteng fell from the 12th floor of the Silver Sands Lifestyle Resort on Durban’s beachfront on Monday.
The boy was on holiday together with his mother, siblings and grandmother when he fell to his death.
According to Lynette Matthews who lived in a neighborhood was informed about the “horrific” incident by her 20-year-old son, Kalem, who saw the child falling out of the window.
“We all ran to the pavement where the child’s body was lying. I started to pray but his body was already turning blue.”
She said the boy’s older brothers were in tears while his mother was in total shock.
When an ambulance did not arrive on time, her son, Kalem had to run to the nearby Addington Hospital to seek help.
“By then a lifeguard was trying to save the boy, but he was already dead. The lifeguard had tears in his eyes while he tried to bring the boy back to life.”
“It hit the child’s mother that he was gone, and she broke down. She couldn’t bring herself to call her husband, who was in Johannesburg, to tell him what had happened,” Matthews said.
Bob Zungu who also witnessed the child falling out of the window said no one could survive that fall.
“I begged God to save him but it was obvious he was gone. Twelve floors is very high and no-one would have survived that”.
The shocked residents had to contact Nicole Graham, the DA councillor for the area.
“I was informed by residents that a child fell from the 12th floor of the Silver Sands block and seemed to be dead on impact. I have confirmed this with metro police.”
“It is a very tragic incident and was very traumatic to witness. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who witnessed the incident and, of course, with his family,” she said.
The Silver Sands Lifestyle Resort manager has not made any comment on this sad incident.
