A man survived falling down a waterfall at Mweni Northern Mountain, Drakensberg, on Tuesday.

A 30-year-old French National was forced to spend the night at the bottom of the waterfall until rescue teams could reach him. KwaZulu-Natal EMS on Wednesday said they received a call about the trapped man at about 1pm on Tuesday.

Because of poor weather conditions, a proper search could only be mounted on Wednesday. The EMS team, together with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and Mountain Club of South Africa, were dispatched to the area, but because of bad weather and non-communication with the man, contact could not be made on Wednesday.

The SANDF air force was asked to assist and an Orynx helicopter was used to airlift the man to safety.