A 50-year-old foreigner died in the domestic hall of Johannesburg International airport on Friday when he plunged off the banister of a moving walkway into the arrivals hall 10m below, said the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa).
A person had stopped at the end of the moving walkway in terminal B, causing a back-up of trolleys.
”The gentleman passenger attempted to move around the obstruction by climbing along the railing of the travelator,” said Acsa spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan.
”The passenger then lost his balance and fell to the arrivals level below.”
Airport clinic staff were on the scene in less than a minute, but the man, believed to be either Austrian or German, had died.
His family was being contacted and the Department of Foreign Affairs had been informed.
The moving walkway was shut down for an on-site investigation, said O’Sullivan. — Sapa