Durban - A woman, believed to be 19 years old, died after she was critically injured when she fell from the Shongweni Bridge on the N3, west of Durban, on Friday night, paramedics said.
ER24 paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after 10.30pm to find the South African Police Service (SAPS) already in attendance, ER24 spokeswoman Ineke van Huyssteen said on Saturday.
"They showed paramedics where she was lying, approximately 40m down in a gorge. ER24 started with the rescue until the various rescue teams arrived to assist."
SAPS search and rescue, mountain rescue, and metro rescue personnel all assisted with retrieving the woman from below. The rescue took about two hours.
Once she was safely brought back up to the bridge, ER24 paramedics found that she had sustained critical injuries and advanced life support interventions were immediately initiated.
"She was transported to hospital for further medical care, but, unfortunately, a short while later she succumbed to her multiple injuries in the hospital and was declared dead. The exact circumstances surrounding the incident were not known to our paramedics," Van Huyssteen said.