“He was trying to break the window. He went first‚ and then he went for the second time and then the window fell out with him.”

This is how eyewitness Mandla Ngcobo on Wednesday described what happened in the seconds leading up to the death of a Johannesburg firefighter who fell from the 23rd floor of a burning building.

Ngcobo was standing outside the building‚ watching as the terrifying scene played out above his head.

From where he was standing‚ Ngocbo said it appeared that the firefighter had tried to use his body weight to break the window and get to a ledge outside.

“I think he went with the elbow first time‚ and then he went for the second time‚ [then] he went full force with his body‚” said Ngcobo.