The son of a prominent actor, himself a budding actor, has died in an 18m fall from a cliff at a whale-watching spot.
|||Cape Town - The 14-year-old son of a prominent South African television actor, himself a budding actor with a role in the former hit show Egoli, has died in an 18m fall from a
cliff at a popular Hermanus whale-watching spot.
The child, Kieran Schultz, was the son of former 7de Laan actor Waldemar Schultz, also a popular theatre actor, voice artist and director who grew up in Milnerton. The family is from Somerset West.
Kieran was a Grade 8 pupil at Parel Vallei High School in Somerset West.
People kayaking at the scene, still shocked after the horror fall, reported on Saturday night that they had thought a bag had fallen over the cliff.
“But it was actually a child falling through the air,” Walker Bay Adventures owner Herman de Vries told Weekend Argus.
On Saturday night EMS sources confirmed they had treated Kieran at the scene. But they would not divulge any further details.
Sources said, however, that EMS staff had worked to try and save the teen for about 45 minutes after he fell at about 1pm on Saturday.
The family
were apparently attending the Hermanus Wine and Food Festival this weekend, where Waldemar Schultz was acting in a comedy called Strip.
Sources said Kieran was balancing on a low wall at the cliff opposite Harbour House Hotel when he fell.
De Vries said he was about to launch a kayak tour in the sea below the viewing spot, which is opposite the Harbour House hotel.
“We actually heard the impact of the fall.”
One of his guides went to help Kieran, who had fallen around 18m into knee-deep water, hitting the rocks at the bottom.
De Vries said two doctors on the kayak tour stayed with Kieran until the paramedics arrived.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed that the circumstances of the death were being investigated.
“This afternoon at about 1pm the victim slipped and fell at the whale look-out point in Hermanus, and sustained severe head injuries, whereafter he succumbed in hospital,” Traut said.
He added that a death inquest case docket had been registered.
According to the website Thespians.co.za, Kieran’s mother, Ira Blanckenberg, runs a drama school. She and Waldemar met while she was studying. They also have a daughter Dhania.
The website reports that
Kieran was also a budding actor, who had had several roles in films, commercials and television. He had played Walt in Egoli.
On Twitter yesterday, student Matia van der Westhuizen said: “Thinking of Waldemar Schultz and family on the death of his son! Tragic!” Another drama student, Gershwin Mias, said: “Biggest shock! Kieran Schultz RIP.”
Weekend Argus