'Adrenaline junkie' mother died on her first skydive alongside instructor when their 'parachute did not open as expected', inquest hears
Skydive instructor Adam Harrison and Belinda Taylor, who was strapped to him on her first jump, died when the parachute failed to open and they crashed to the ground.
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Daily Mail
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Egyptian asylum seeker dies trying to jump onto ship to Canada
A failed asylum seeker from Egypt drowned after he attempted to jump onto the ramp of a ship at Southampton docks in a bid to travel to Canada, an inquest has heard. Walid Gomaa, who was denied asylum status when he arrived in the UK in 2021, had told a friend he intended to travel across the Atlantic after living illegally in the UK for four years. The 36-year-old Egyptian national was spotted by members of the crew of the 200-metre MV Tannhauser attempting to board the vehicle-transporter ship which was due to sail to Halifax, Canada. Mr Gomaa was said to be trying to reach the ramp's finger-flaps - articulated extensions at the end of the vessel - as it was being raised ahead of sailing, the Winchester inquest was told. The operator paused the raising and saw Mr Gomaa walk away, but as they started lifting up the ramp again, the asylum seeker ran and jumped towards the ramp despite a crew member shouting at him to stop. Mr Gomaa then hit his head and fell into the sea at Empress Dock at the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal, where he drowned before a rescue boat could reach him on April 28 this year, the inquest heard. Coroner Jason Pegg said: 'Mr Gomaa attempted a second time, warnings were shouted to Mr Gomaa but he continued despite the warnings. 'Mr Gomaa jumped off the jetty towards the vessel. On this occasion Mr Gomaa was not able to grab hold of anything and fell towards the water between the jetty and the vessel itself.' The inquest heard a post-mortem examination found the cause of death was drowning, which resulted from a head injury and a fall into the water. Mr Pegg said a friend contacted police after Mr Gomaa had not been in contact and said Mr Gomaa had told him he planned to travel to Canada. The coroner said that when the friend asked how he was going to get there, Mr Gomaa replied: 'Do not worry about it.'
BreakingNews.ie
16 minutes ago
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PSNI probe church incident where Burke family confronted education official
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The Guardian
16 minutes ago
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French minister to take legal action against man who lit cigarette from memorial
A French minister has said she is taking legal action against an unidentified man who was filmed lighting a cigarette from a memorial flame at a major Paris war monument. The video of a man stooping to light up from the fire at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe, before walking calmly away watched by tourists, caused indignation when it was widely shared on social media. 'I am filing a case immediately with the Paris state prosecutors so that this man will be found and sanctions imposed to make an example of him,' Patricia Miralles, minister for veterans and remembrance, wrote on X. 'You cannot ridicule French remembrance and get away with it,' she added. The tomb, under the giant arch at the top of the iconic Champs-Élysées avenue, contains the remains of a soldier killed in the first world war, laid there as a tribute to France's war dead. 'This flame does not light a cigarette, it burns for the sacrifice of millions of our soldiers,' said Miralles. 'This is an insult to our dead, to our history and to our nation.' AFP was not able to determine the origin of the video. Le Figaro newspaper reported that it was filmed by a Latvian tourist on the evening of 4 August and first posted on TikTok.
