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Spanish police issue new warnings after three tourists plummet from balconies in Balearics

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Spanish police issue new warnings after three tourists plummet from balconies in Balearics
Photo: Roberto Alcaraz/ Benidorm Dreams

Three tourists have fallen from their hotel balconies in Spain's Balearic Islands in recent days, one of them dying on impact, police said Monday as the summer season in the party archipelago begins.

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The incidents came as Britain's foreign office warned holidaymakers heading to Spain against "balcony falls" and asked them not to "take unnecessary risks... particularly if you're under the influence of drink or drugs."   

On Friday in Magaluf, a party resort notorious for its booze-fuelled tourism, a 19-year-old British man fell to his death from the second floor of his hotel, Spain's Civil Guard police force said.

A spokesman said police were looking at two theories -- either "he threw himself off voluntarily, or he fell by accident."   

He did not know whether the victim had consumed drugs or alcohol.   

On Thursday, a 35-year-old German man fell from the second floor of his hotel too, this time in Palma de Majorca, and was seriously injured, police said.

A source close to the probe, who declined to be named, said the man had drunk, dozed off, woken up and subsequently fallen from the balcony, possibly disorientated.

And on Monday, an Australian man in his early thirties fell from the second floor of his hotel in Ibiza and was seriously hurt, police said, without giving further details.

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Balcony falls happen every year in the Balearic Islands and other party resorts in Spain, most of them due to excessive drinking or drug-taking.

Some are accidental slips, while others happen when tourists miss while trying to jump into pools or onto another balcony -- a practice known as "balconing."

The British foreign office's online travel advice for Spain has an entire section warning against "balcony falls".   

"There have been a number of very serious accidents (some fatal) as a result of falls from balconies," says the website.   

"Many of these incidents have involved British nationals and have had a devastating impact on those involved and their loved ones."

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