The South African beach where Munster rugby coach Greig Oliver was killed in a tragic paragliding accident is said to be "cursed" by superstitious locals after two more deaths on it within 48 hours.
The elite performance officer at Munster drowned on Monday after a mid-air collision with another tandem paraglider above Cape Town which sent him and his pilot crashing into the surf 50m below.
The other pilot and his passenger landed safely but the pilot of Oliver’s paraglider was forced to cut away his main chute and deploy the reserve and they spiralled into the choppy Atlantic with 5-foot swells.
His tragic death on Rocklands Beach stunned locals as for the two following days the Cape Point Promenade was filled with ambulances and police cars and fire engines as two other locals also drowned in the surf.
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A local witchdoctor - known as a sangoma - calling herself "Geesvrou" said that the three deaths all happened in succession over the spring tides of the full moon and said that the "spirit god" would be satisfied.
Restauranteur Daniel Brink, 44, said: "People here are very superstitious and when three people die one after the other it makes locals worried that there are darker forces at work - it is how local people are".
Married father-of-two and a former Scotland scrum half Oliver, 58, who represented his country at two World Cups is believed to have drowned under the weight of his canopy which had wrapped around him.
The pilot was seen as high waves washed him and Oliver onto rocks in a heavy surf trying to pull him up from below the surface and unravel cords from the chute wrapped around him as rescuers ran to help.
They were pulled out of the water by fellow paraglider pilots and paramedics tried desperately to revive Mr Oliver but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
He had travelled to Cape Town from Ireland with his wife Fiona to cheer on their son Jack who was representing Ireland in the U-20 Rugby World Cup.
It is not known whether their scrum half son Jack will be part of the Ireland U-20’s team who play South Africa in the World Cup semi-finals on Sunday in Cape Town near the beach where his dad lost his life.
South African Police are refusing to reveal the postmortem cause of death.
Oliver and fellow parents were in South Africa cheering on the Irish team and took a coach from their hotel to Signal Hill which overlooks Rocklands Beach having paid £60 (€70) for the 15-minute flight.
The 6 paragliding companies who work off a canvas runway on top of Signal Hill refused to comment while a Civil Aviation Authority investigation is underway into Monday's afternoon's tragedy.
Rocklands beach at Sea Point can be notoriously dangerous when heavy surf is present and four teenagers were swept to their deaths in 2019 while staying locally with a church group on holiday.
But to the horror of locals where the paragliders land on the grassy promenade outside the historic Winchester Hotel two more Cape Town people died on successive days in the aftermath of Mr Oliver.
On Tuesday local estate agent and married mother-of-two Laureen Leps, 49, was swept off the rocks below the seawall and 500m out to sea by a wave as the high full moon spring tides took place.
Two National Sea Rescue Institute lifeboats were launched and with the help of a tourist helicopter located her in the surf and she was rescued and rushed to hospital but died in the intensive care unit.
On Wednesday a man in his twenties was seen to fall off the rocks at almost the same spot as the woman and was sucked out to sea in a strong rip tide but he could not be found and washed up on Thursday.
The three deaths in 48 hours have shocked the local community who have witnessed dozens of police cars and ambulance and fire engines parked along the promenade for 3 days and lifeboats out at sea.
An NSRI rescuer said at the scene: “We have putting out warnings all week about the high spring tides and made it clear that the sea conditions will be treacherous over the full moon on Cape beaches.
“What happened to Mr Oliver was tragic and extremely rare but the other two deaths could have been avoided. The swells are just very large and there is always that one big wave out there if you do not take care|".
Arrangements are being made to repatriate Mr Oliver’s body back to Ireland next week.
