Rustenburg - A 27-year-old woman died when she fell from a mountain in Rustenburg on Friday evening, North West paramedics said.
Shortly after 8pm, paramedics from ER24 and local fire services arrived on the scene where they found a group of friends at the top of the mountain, ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak said on Saturday.
"They explained that a woman, that was with them at the time, apparently slipped and fell several metres," he said.
Due to low visibility, ER24 rescuers used an infrared thermal imaging camera to search for the woman between the thick trees. After some time, they managed to find her and used rope equipment to abseil to her location.
A 27-year-old woman died when she fell from a mountain in Rustenburg in the North West on Friday evening. Photo: ER24
"Sadly, she showed no signs of life and was declared dead on the scene. Due to the dangerous conditions and poor visibility, the retrieval of her body was postponed until early this morning [Saturday]."
ER24, the Mountain Search and Rescue Club, fire department, and the police search and rescue unit set up equipment early on Saturday morning to abseil to her location. Rescuers had to hoist her body back up the mountain as they could not access the slope from the bottom.
The exact circumstances surrounding the incident were not yet known and local authorities would investigate, Vermaak said.