Umlazi shoppers watch in horror as man jumps off building

Shocked shoppers watched in horror as a man plunged from a three-storey building at Umlazi Mega City shopping centre south of Durban on Monday afternoon in what appeared to be an attempted suicide.

The man survived the fall.

 An eye witness said minutes before the incident‚ the man who appeared to be in his 30s‚ stood on the building near the entrance‚ as a crowd of people who had gathered begged him not to jump.

A few people in the crowd called the centre security while others called the police.

 However despite the crowd’s pleas not to jump‚ the man leapt off the building onto the hard asphalt.

“He did not die‚ but was groaning in pain‚” said eye witness Ntokozo Ndlovu.

“It happened so fast. He did not intend listening to anyone‚” she said.

Paramedics stabilised the man before taking him to hospital.

He was still alive‚ said Ndlovu.

Zama Malunga marketing assistant of the Broll Property Group which runs the shopping centre confirmed the incident.

She said that she couldn’t comment until a formal investigation into the matter was completed.