Durban — A 70-year-old man died on Thursday after driving a car from a tall building in Durban.
The incident, which was captured on the CCTV cameras of the building, happened at Overport shopping mall. Sources who had been nearby at the time told the Daily News that they heard a big bang and when they went to see what it was, they saw a wrecked car at the bottom of the building.
A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said, after watching the videos that were captured by the CCTV cameras, it appeared that the man knew what he was doing and looked like he was committing suicide.
“Initially we all thought it was an accident but after watching the video on the CCTV cameras and seeing the way he sped the car in the narrow parking lot, we easily concluded that he committed suicide,” said the source.
In the video, which the newspaper also saw, the car is seen leaving the parking lot at a high speed, nearly hitting other parked vehicles, and smashing into the wall of the building. A few minutes later the vehicle is seen lying wrecked on the bottom floor of the building surrounded by onlookers and paramedics. It was not yet clear who the man was and where he came from.
Garrith Jamieson of ALS Paramedics said paramedics arrived at the scene after receiving numerous calls.
He said the car had ploughed through the wall, coming to rest on its roof on the road below.
The driver, who was the car’s only occupant, was assessed by paramedics inside the vehicle as he was trapped in the wreckage. He had sustained fatal injuries and there was nothing paramedics could do for him.
“The man was declared deceased on the scene,” said Jamieson.
SAPS spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda told the Daily News that an inquest docket had been opened.
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Daily News