Chappies claims paramedic's life
2010-01-31 23:32
Sonja van Buul and Nurene Jassiem
Cape Town - A young Johannesburg paramedic died in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon after plunging to his death off Chapman's Peak.
Jonathan Pierre Erasmus, 24, apparently slipped after he'd climbed over a wall at a view point to take photographs.
As his horrified friends looked on, he fell about 300m before hitting the sea below.
Erasmus had been on holiday in Cape Town with two friends, Francois Kellerman and Marco Venter. A colleague who also works for Netcare 911, Annie Olivier, had been with them when tragedy struck.
It isn't quite clear what happened, but when the rest of the group tried to go to the rescue of Erasmus, Olivier got stuck on a rock ledge, says the NSRI's Brad Geyser.
He says they were alerted at 18:06 and launched a rescue operation involving not only the NSRI, but also the police and metro emergency services.
The metro team rescued the woman, who had minor injuries.
Two NSRI boats found the body after searching the sea below the view point.
Jean Pierre le Grange, one of Erasmus's best friends, said he'd had a "helluva zest for life".
"Jono would've given his life to save someone."
Facebook tributes include one by his mother, Erna Mouton, who described him as her "sunshine". She wrote how proud she was of him and how she was going to miss him. She thanked the rescue teams and said she'd like to give each of them a hug.
From Jono's younger brother, Ryan Erasmus: "Be seeing you."