Police are investigating how a woman was able to remove her harness and fall 268 metres to her death from Sydney’s Centrepoint Tower on Thursday afternoon.
The woman, who is believed to have been middle-aged, started the Sky Walk with her harness attaching her to the building.
Witnesses claim she soon became agitated and removed the safety harness after threatening to self harm. The woman is understood to have then fallen off the platform.
Police were called to a ‘self harm incident’ about 2.40pm on Thursday and began to retrieve the woman’s body from a canopy beneath the tower.
This photo shows the woman’s body covered by tarpaulin after workers retrieved it after the tragedy on Thursday afternoon
Staff working at the tower said the building was closed ‘until further notice following an incident’. Pictured: The tower and the walkway around it where the skywalks take place
Meanwhile, paramedics treated witnesses, some who were shaking with shock and one woman who had to be taken away in a wheelchair.
Daily Mail Australia understands Safe Work has not been asked to investigate the circumstances that allowed the woman to take her life, but police are as part of their investigation for the coroner.
The Skywalk is described as a ‘breath-taking 45 minute guided tour around the outside of Sydney’s highest building.’
A witness named Chris, who was inside the fourth-floor observation deck at the time, told Daily Mail Australia of the chaotic scenes inside the tower after the woman fell.
This image, taken through the glass floor of the walkway on the tower, shows the place (at the bottom of the photo) where the woman landed after she fell
He said: ‘I was inside when I heard a worker start running and yelling back at his co-workers to “call downstairs”‘.
‘At first, I thought there was a fire but there were no fire alarms so I really didn’t know what was going on.
‘I walked over to my friends who seemed pretty grim and asked them what happened.
‘They said they had just seen a woman fall. One of my friends said she saw her falling right in front of her face. I asked if she had a parachute and she said “no”.
‘We could not see where the woman landed because our view directly downwards was cut off at a certain point. My friend said she had a clear view of the woman’s face as he was falling because he was turned towards the sky.
The woman is thought to have taken off her harness and clumbed over the railings. Seen here are a group of visitors on a Skywalk tour on a separate occasion
The woman who plunged to her death from Sydney’s Centrepoint Tower today fell right past office workers who saw her face as she plummeted, a witness has told Daily Mail Australia. Pictured: The place where the woman landed
‘She said that she looked to be middle aged.’
Standing on the platform with the woman at the time were an elderly couple, a young girl, and a few others, Chris said.
‘It seemed like nobody knew the woman. We decided to leave because we were feeling a bit uncomfortable, and as we got off the elevator there were a few police officers.’
A spokesman for Centrepoint Tower, also known as Sydney Tower, said the company was ‘working closely with the police on this matter and it is being investigated accordingly.
‘At this stage the Sydney Tower Eye Observation Deck and SKYWALK are closed.’
Police are preparing a report for the coroner.
If you are in need of support please contact Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue on 1300 224 636.
Long walk: The Skywalk tour of the Sydney Tower sees daredevils take a 45-minute tour on a glass-bottomed walkway around the tower while hooked up to safety harnesses