What was meant to be a fun-filled weekend for a group of Pretoria high school pupils turned to tragedy when a 13-year-old boy fell to his death from a 16m high foefie slide tower.
Deoshan Pillay died while waiting for his close friend, Himal Rama, to be harnessed on to the slide on Saturday morning.
The two were part of a group of 14 children from the Pretoria Hindu School who were taking part in the school’s annual Grade 8 leadership course at Arendsnes Resort between Brits and Rustenburg.
Exact details of the tragedy are sketchy.
What is known is that while a facilitator from the school sports and adventure resort harnessed Himal to the slide, Deoshan, who was near the top of the platform, slipped off a steel rung and fell to his death.
It was the third time that the school had held its leadership course at Arendsnes.
“Nobody knows for sure what happened. While the facilitator was harnessing Himal on to the slide he heard a loud thud,” school principal Anil Singh said.
“When he looked over the edge, he saw teachers and children running to a spot on the ground where Deoshan was lying.
“They tried to administer first aid and called an ambulance, but by the time Deoshan arrived at the Brits Medical Centre, it was too late. He was already dead.”
Singh said the leadership course was a way of introducing Grade 8 pupils to high school.
“The children left for the camp on Friday and were spending two days at Arendsnes over the weekend.
“It appears the accident happened sometime in the early morning, while they were taking part in one of the activities,” he said.
Only those children who had wanted to participate in the foefie slide activity had done so.
Singh said it was the first time the school had lost a child.
“We have held numerous excursions and leadership camps, all without so much as a scratch.
“This is a great, great tragedy that has affected all of us very badly,” he said.
Deoshan’s cousin, Tash Govender, said the family was devastated.
“It is like a nightmare that we just can’t wake up from. We keep on trying to, but we know that we can’t.
“Deoshan had such a bright future ahead of him.
“He had a heart of gold and was always looking out for others. He left a mark on everyone he met,” she said.
Speaking shortly after the family returned from the resort, Govender said there were no words to describe the anguish the family was feeling.
“We have left the resort with so many questions. We are getting so many stories from the people who were there, but we are not 100 percent sure what happened.
“It definitely was an accident, but we believe that there was negligence as there could have been additional safety measures in place,” she said.
“We will definitely be asking whether the necessary health and safety standards were met and whether the school ever checked the resort’s safety records and documents,” she added.
The middle sibling of three children, Deoshan was cremated at the weekend.
Arendsnes co-owner Normie Eckard referred all questions to the Brits police station.
He said they were under strict instructions not to say anything about the case before the investigation had been completed.
“What I can say is that in the 10 years that we have been open this is the first time such a tragic event has happened here,” Eckard said.
At the time of going to press police could not be reached for comment. - Pretoria News