Two teenagers have died after falling from a balcony while “kissing” and “frolicking” on the sixth floor of a block of flats
Police, who were called just after midnight to Knights Tower, in Deptford, south London, have described the deaths of the 18-year-old man and 19-year-old woman as as “tragic accident”.
Samson Oguntayo (32) an events manager who lives in the neighbouring Cornmill House, said he and his partner Blessing had seen the couple fall.
“They were trying to have sex on the balcony, the guy was lifting the girl and putting her on the bannister, he kept on doing it” he said.
“He was putting her on there – they were going back and forth. You could see they were doing some really dangerous stuff. It is not the first time we have seen people on the balcony acting up”.
“At some point friends must have come outside and they got down and came back inside and then came back out again”.
“This time they started doing it again. You see people on the balcony doing all sorts of things and I just felt it was one of those things and in a moment they will probably go back inside”.
“The last thing I expected was to see them falling down five floors. We just screamed” he added.
Maureen Flynn (22), a resident of a neighbouring block, said “I did not see them fall but I saw their friends come out on to the balcony. They were crying, they did not know what had happened. I had to tell them ‘Your friends are dead'”.
A resident who lives in the opposite block, and who did not want to be named, said he saw a couple “frolicking” on the balcony last night.
“The occupants were inside, these two were on the balcony” he said.
“We were shutting our blinds when we saw a couple on their balcony frolicking. They were kissing and stuff, she was telling him to get off her. We then shut our balcony”.
He said less than 10 minutes later he heard a “bang” and that a neighbour had witnessed the couple fall.
“She saw him lift her up and put her on the edge of the balcony” he said.
“She said she had her arms around his neck and then he was stood against her kissing her. Then she saw his legs stumble backwards – he stumbled backwards and she stumbled the other way. Then they both fell off.”
Shradha Chaturvedi (31) an auditor and resident of the second floor of Knights Tower said “I heard a very, very loud noise and a lady screaming initially – I heard a boom and at first I thought a firework had gone off or something”.
A police spokesman said officers were not treating the deaths as suspicious.
Inspector Shaun Carre-Brown said “This appears to be a tragic accident and our thoughts go out to the families and those that knew them”.
Agencies/Canadajournal