Cape Town came close to severe embarrassment this week when a German Internet site promoting tourism to the city narrowly missed showing live online the exploding car bomb in the Heerengracht.
A live video camera feed from a webcam on a Foreshore rooftop, meant to persuade people to visit scenic Cape Town, came within a few metres of sending video footage of the blast to potential tourists across the world.
The wide angle camera is aimed at Table Mountain and also captures buildings in the Heerengracht, but - fortunately, as it turned out - just misses the site where the car bomb went off and also the stretch of road where the ensuing disturbance took place.
A difference of a few degrees in the angle of the lens could have led to live coverage of the bomb exploding.
Police confirmed that they were checking the images on www.kapstadt.de as a matter of course, although they were not hopeful of finding any clues.