A 20-YEAR-OLD holidaymaker has died after falling from a sixth-floor balcony in the Magaluf district of Calvià (Mallorca).
One of 22 who have fallen from verandas or windows in hotels and apartment blocks in the Balearic Islands this summer – of whom at least five have died – the youth was found on the ground split seconds after the accident at around 06.20hrs yesterday (Wednesday) morning.
The French national was not said to be practising the frequent and foolhardy stunt known as 'balconing', where young foreign tourists try to jump from their hotel patios into the swimming pool below.
He is believed to have been trying to climb from a window onto a balcony through an open patio door to get into his accommodation at the Magaluf Playa Apartments close to the BCM nightclub on the Punta Ballena strip, as he did not have a key.
The victim slipped and fell, and lost his life immediately in the impact.
A French gendarme, part of a specialist international force including the Spanish Guardia Civil and the German police stationed on the island to help keep tourists safe, is taking part in the investigation into the young man's death.
Most balcony falls in the Balearic Islands appear to involve alcohol and happen in the early hours of the morning, frequently after sunrise.
