[ad_1]
A Victorian tourist has died after plunging 40 floors from a Gold Coast hotel, after he slipped from a chair and stumbled over the balcony.
The 36-year-old man, who has not been named, fell from the balcony of the Hilton Surfers Paradise just after 10pm on Friday night, before landing on the footpath of Orchid Avenue.
The man had been on holiday with his family from Victoria when he popped a bottle of champagne on the picturesque balcony.
The cork hit the roof, with the man standing on a chair in an attempt to wipe the marks left on the roof by the cork.
Instead, the man tragically slipped and fell, falling from the high-rise hotel to his death below.
The man has lived in Australia for more than a decade with his wife and young daughter after he moved from India in 2005.
The man’s family in India have made a heartbreaking plea to the Australian government, in the hopes his body can be brought home.
“Due to COVID restrictions we aren’t able to come there,” the man’s nephew told the Gold Coast Bulletin .
“He was an Australian citizen but his parents and family (are) in India except his wife and daughter.”
A Queensland Police spokesman confirmed a report would be prepared for the coroner after the horrific accident.
A number of Surfers Paradise nightclubs closed on Friday night after the man’s death, with police using a blanket to cover his body.
Police are continuing to investigate CCTV from around Surfers Paradise to give them a full picture of how the tragedy occurred.
Hilton Surfers Paradise offered its “sincere condolences” to the man’s family and confirmed his death over the weekend.
The man’s death is the second tragedy to rock the Surfers Paradise Hilton in less than two years.
Charlie Scott, 18, was celebrating Schoolies on the Gold Coast in December 2019 when he fell from the Hilton’s 42nd floor.
Mr Scott, from Melbourne, took to Snapchat moments before his death to post a message saying, “Goodbye”.
RELATED: Friends, family pay tribute to Charlie Scott
A minute’s silence was held on Cavill Ave, the main street of Surfers Paradise, to pay respects to Mr Scott at the time.
The Gold Coast is often rocked by tragedies involving its high-rise hotel balconies.
In 2018, Sydney teen Hamish Bidgood fell to his death from a different Surfers Paradise hotel balcony after inhaling “nangs” – nitrous oxide gas.
And another teenager, Isabelle Colman, died after falling from a balcony during Schoolies celebrations at Surfers Paradise in 2012.
The former Mt St Michael’s College student fell to her death from the Chevron Renaissance complex.
In 2006, an Adelaide woman fell 36 floors to her death from the Aquarius building in Surfers Paradise.
Annie Rogers, 49, had been standing on a chair and attempting to clean water on a ledge with a mop when she lost her balance and fell.
[ad_2]
Source link
