Motorists on the N1 South in Fairland saw a man who looked as if he was about to jump off the pedestrian bridge, but that was not his plan.
|||Johannesburg - He nearly caused accidents by praying to avoid them. On Thursday morning motorists on the N1 South in Fairland saw a man who looked as if he was about to jump off the pedestrian bridge just before the 14th Avenue exit.
Reports flooded radio stations and Twitter with people claiming they saw him standing on the railing. One said he was sitting on the railings with his legs hanging over.
Li Xing wrote: “Someone tryna jump off the pedestrian bridge near 14th Avenue, yho.”
Shiwe Mogapi said she initially “wondered why we (were) stuck in traffic”. She was sad that someone might have tried to jump. “Life can be so hard hey,” she tweeted.
Ursula Tshabalala tweeted that as drivers came up the N1 it looked “like there’s someone standing on the railing”.
Police and emergency services rushed to the scene. However they found that not all was as it seemed.
An officer who asked to remain anonymous said it seemed that the man was just praying.
“He was apparently praying over the traffic, that there would be no accidents.
“The situation was under control, he told officers that he wasn’t going to jump. Police convinced him to get off the railing and he did,” he said.
The man was assessed by medical personnel.
“He didn’t seem dangerous or suicidal, just a bit odd,” the officer added.
ilanit.chernick@inl.co.za
@Lanc_02
The Star