Posted on 06/26/2009 8:34:04 PM PDT by Steelfish
Teenager jumps to her death from Eiffel Tower, crashing onto roof of packed restaurant 180ft below
IAN SPARKS
27th June 2009
A teenage tourist has leapt to her death from the Eiffel Tower in Paris and crashed onto the roof of a packed restaurant 180ft below.
The 18-year-old Brazilian girl jumped from a second-storey tier as her brother frantically tried to stop her.
Diners on the tower's 170ft-high first floor then heard her smash into the plastic roof of the restaurant, believed to be Altitude 95, five feet above their heads.
Altitude 95, on the first tier of the Eiffel Tower: Believed to be the restaurant which an 18-year-old crashed into after leaping to her death
A waiter said after the tragedy on Thursday afternoon: 'It was a shocking moment.
'The smashing noise was like a bomb going off as the roof cracked, then everyone there very quickly realised what had happened.
'But the most bizarre thing was, most of the customers just carried on eating. I have no idea why they did that.'
The Eiffel Tower: The Brazilian girl's brother desperately tried to stop her from jumping
Police said the girl's 25-year-old brother had frantically tried to stop her, but that she had jumped before he could reach her.
A spokesman added: 'He watched her leap over the railing and vanish.
'At this point we have no idea of what drove her to this tragic act.
'Her brother is in a state of extreme shock and has been taken to hospital for treatment.
'He was so horrified at what he saw that he could not even tell us his name.'
The victim could not be named until her family had been informed, he added.
The 980ft tower is the world's most popular attraction, visited by more than 6million tourists...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Because they were hungry?
Those damn French can drive anybody crazy.
Permanent solution to a temporary problem. G-d rest her soul.
What a waste.
One said that the two things he felt immediately after leaving the side rail were shockingly high acceleration and profound regret.
Prayers for the brother and sister, and for the conversion of the restaurant patrons.
Pretty damn selfish of her....plus in front of her poor brother too. Au revoir!
"That ain't my job" is a apparently a European concept, and not just a Wal-Mart concept.
How horrible... Prayers for her brother and any witnesses (those who cared.)
Gravity sucks.
Hey, that was unnecessary. When there are natural disasters, such as during Katrina, the local Walmarts often provide a lot of free merchandise to the communities in trouble. We joke a lot about Wal-Mart (I tell my family that I need to get my shots, and to put on my pith helmet, when we go over there) - but they are OK in my book.
Gravity works every time it is tried.
Because it was a free meal!
...scattering snails all over the damn place.
A similar thing happened in San Francisco about 12 years ago. A man jumped from the inner balcony of a Hyatt, I think, and landed right in front of some people eating their breakfast in a courtyard restaurant. Most of them reportedly simply continued eating.
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Yep. And each and every one of the things that Wal-Mart does in response to disasters was thought about ahead of time and planned for by excellent management. And carried out by excellent leaders who execute their jobs superbly.
The Wal-Mart people I was kicking in the ribs are most definitely not those people. When I go to Wal-Mart, I don't get to see those guys.
Ironically, that's zero g, exactly what is felt in earth orbit.
As to regret, I recall the ending of PAUL'S CASE by Willa Cather, "When the right moment came, he jumped. As he fell, the folly of his haste occurred to him with merciless clearness, the vastness of what he had left undone."
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