Woman tells how she survived being thrown 67m

2012-09-18 09:37

The N2 bridge over the Umkomaas river from which Kavisha Seevnarain was thrown by hijackers. (File, The Witness)

Durban - A KwaZulu-Natal woman has spoken out about the night she miraculously survived being thrown 67m off a bridge by hijackers who wanted to prevent her from testifying against them.

Kavisha Seevnarain referred to her saviour, whom she called “the man with the blue umbrella”, saying she would always remember and thank Bongani Duma for coming to her aid after she lay with a fractured pelvis and broken ribs at the bottom of the uMkhomazi River bridge.

Seevnarain had fallen from the equivalent of a 20-storey high building and speculated that her padded anorak might have helped to slow her fall.

She told the Sunday Argus how while she was falling, she thought: “I fell, and fell, and as the water rushed closer, I thought: ‘I might be going to die, but I can fly!’”

After dragging her body out of the river and being helped by Duma, she went on to testify against the four men who had hijacked her, seeing them sentenced to long prison terms.   

It was a slow recovery but the high school teacher learned to walk again and is about to complete her MBA degree.

“It was not my time,” she said. “There was a reason I survived, and I am determined to find it.”

- News24