A student at a British university plunged to her death in front of friends after slipping in a huge puddle on Ireland’s famous Cliffs of Moher, an inquest has been told.
Roxan Bastaens, 20, a Belgian national studying at the University of Edinburgh, had travelled to the west of Ireland for a hiking trip in May last year, just weeks before her 21st birthday.
Clare Coroner’s Court in Kilrush heard that she and three friends, two French students and Italian-born Giulia Bracchi, had arrived in Doolin the night before to stay over before tackling the cliff walk.
Ms Bracchi gave evidence describing how the group set off that morning in calm weather with proper hiking boots.
‘The trail was protected at the beginning, but later on it got slippery and there was no barrier,’ she told the hearing.
She added: ‘We all had hiking boots on. It was not difficult. There were hundreds of people on the cliffs. The impression was that the trail was safe.’
According to her account, Bastaens was holding her camera and keeping an eye on her footing when she moved to avoid a pool of water.
‘She had her camera in her hand and was looking at her steps as she walked around a big puddle,’ Ms Bracchi said. ‘She fell forward and she started tumbling down and I tried to catch her, but I couldn’t. It all happened so fast.’
She went on: ‘I looked down and I saw her hit off the cliffs twice and then she then went out of sight.’ A short time later, she spotted her friend’s body lying face down in the water below.
Bastaens shocking death occured at Ireland’s Cliffs of Moher just weeks before her 21st birthday last year
County coroner Isobel O’Dea returned a verdict of accidental death. She told the family: ‘Unfortunately, we have a number of deaths at the Cliffs of Moher each year and this was an absolute accident.’
Toxicology results showed no alcohol or drugs in Bastaens’ system. A postmortem concluded she died instantly from multiple injuries caused by the fall. Ms O’Dea said her passing ‘would have been instantaneous and she wouldn’t have suffered.’
The court also heard that large parts of the walking route were shut down by the Clare Local Development Company in August last year and remain closed because of safety concerns.
In recent years, there have been multiple deaths at the Cliffs of Moher, which attracts around 1.5million people each year.
Experts have said ‘serious construction work’ has to be done for the site to be deemed safe. Concerns have also been raised that the trail is too close to the edge of the cliff.
Last year, in July, a 12-year-old boy fell over the edge and died instantly after slipping into a puddle. In 2019, a man in his 20s fell from the landmark after it was claimed he was taking a selfie.
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