Durban - Two friends who fell from a Durban block of flats, one with fatal consequences, had apparently been playing and drinking at the time.
Siphamandla Sikhakhane, who fell to his death from the balcony behind flats in McArthur Street, in the Albert Park area, had been visiting his friend, Sphesihle Xaba, when the two men fell on Monday morning.
Xaba, in a critical condition in hospital, is a student at First Choice Varsity Campus in Dr Pixley kaSeme (West) Street. Sikhakhane is believed to have been a student at the Springfield campus of the eThekwini Fet college. Both are believed to be in their 20s.
Bheki Richard Shangase, the supervisor of Bridlington, the block of flats from which the men fell, said he had been told the two had been “having fun and enjoying themselves inside the room with others”.
“But I don’t know how they got separated because their friends say they don’t know what happened.
“All they know is that they (Sikhakhane and Xaba) had been playing on the balcony,” Shangase said.
The two were found lying at the rear of the building in Maud Mfusi (St George’s) Street. “The ambulance was called by people who were passing by behind the building,” Shangase said.
He said he had asked friends of the pair what had happened.
“They were drinking in the morning and because there was noise we couldn’t hear anything tragic.
“We just saw the others walking out of the building shocked. No one was saying what happened because they were not with them when they fell,” Shangase said.
Shangase said the balcony wall where the two fell, was above waist height for an adult.
“Their friends said there was no altercation between the two, insisting there was nothing wrong.
“Even if one pushed the other one over the wall, it is hard to believe that the one who was being pushed pulled the other one and both fell at the same time,” he said.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, said an inquest docket had been opened.
“It is alleged that… at about 11.21am the two were playing on the balcony when they fell.”
Sikhakhane was declared dead on the scene.
Daily News