The Overstrand municipality is to check safety measures at a popular Hermanus whale-watching site where a boy fell to his death.
|||Cape Town - The Overstrand municipality is to check safety measures at a popular Hermanus whale-watching site where 14-year-old Kieran Schultz died after falling more than 20 metres from a cliff.
Spokesman Fanie Krige said the wall had been specifically designed to stop people from climbing over it.
“We will be checking the signage and safety measures around that area. Everyone was shocked by the incident,” he said.
Krige said the area, known as Gering’s Point, was upgraded about four years ago.
“About three years ago a woman died after she was washed off the cliff, but not at the same spot as this accident. The wall is built at an angle with a sharp edge so people can’t walk on it,” he said.
Kieran, a Grade 8 pupil at Parel Vallei High School in Somerset West, was apparently walking on a low wall at a popular lookout point when he slipped and fell over the cliff on to the rocks below on Saturday afternoon.
He was the son of actor Waldemar Schultz. The family and friends were in Hermanus for the annual Food and Wine Festival, at which Schultz appeared in a comedy.
Kieran was also a budding actor and had had several roles in films, commercials and television. This included his role as Walt in Egoli.
Schultz, who played Jan-Hendrick Terreblanche in 7de Laan, was at a nearby coffee shop at the time.
Police spokesman Andre Traut said
police had opened an inquest docket.
Hermanus resident Bernard Julius told the Cape Times on Sunday he had arrived at the scene soon after Kieren had fallen.
“A security guard came running past us to fetch police to help. I could see the boy lying on the rocks at the bottom and some people were already there with him.”
Jenny Traynor, of Somerset West, who was at a restaurant nearby, said emergency personnel had worked on Schultz for more than 30 minutes before he was taken to hospital.
“Police cordoned off the area (and) kept everything calm. The paramedics worked on him for a long time, but we heard later that afternoon that the boy didn’t make it,” she said.
Condolences have been streaming in on social media sites. Beau Schoeman posted on News24 online: “On behalf of Parel Vallei High School’s first rugby team (and) its coaches, we want to express our sincere sympathy and condolences to the parents.”
barbara.maregele@inl.co.za
Cape Times