Advertisement

Woman falls to death while jumping for photo on birthday


A woman has died after she fell from a cliff when she jumped for a photo her husband was taking.

Jolandi le Roux was celebrating her 31st birthday with her husband Andrew at Cape Town’s Lookout Point on Chapman Drive when she lost her footing while leaping for the photo last Sunday.

She was trying to make it seem like she was jumping over the setting sun, South African news site Independent Online reported.

Jolandi le Roux died after falling from a cliff as she posed for a photo taken by her husband Andrew. Source: Facebook/ Jolandi le Roux
Jolandi le Roux died after falling from a cliff as she posed for a photo taken by her husband Andrew. Source: Facebook/ Jolandi le Roux

The pair are believed to have gone beyond a barrier that kept visitors a safe distance from the cliff face and its surrounding unstable ground.

She fell down the 65 degree slope and landed in a dead tree near the bottom.

Her partner, 33, managed to navigate his way down the cliff in a desperate attempt to save his wife but couldn’t reach her due to the steepness of the rock face.

The pair had previously married at a nearby beach in 2017. Source: Facebook/ Jolandi le Roux
The pair had previously married at a nearby beach in 2017. Source: Facebook/ Jolandi le Roux

“He risked his life trying to reach his wife but couldn’t. It was heartbreaking, but it would have been suicide to go any further,” arriving paramedic Henry Barlow revealed to the Independent Online.

“It was just cliffs and a 60-metre drop to the rocks and sea below us.”

It took rescuers three hours to get to her body and a further three to get her back onto safe ground in the dark and poor weather conditions.

The pair are believed to have breached a safety barrier. Source: Google Maps/ Zaahir Davids
The pair are believed to have breached a safety barrier. Source: Google Maps/ Zaahir Davids

Rescuers broke the devastating news to her husband, who had harboured slight hope Ms le Roux was still alive.

In a tragic twist, the couple had married on the beach below in September last year, with the area one of their favourites.

Social media was awash with tributes for Ms le Roux, who was remembered as a “beautiful person” and an “unbelievable woman, loved by many”.