Tourist Slips, Falls Off Hotel’s Roof Pool; Plunges 50ft To His Death

KEY POINTS

A 19-year-old fell 50 feet onto a roof after slipping from a hotel pool
His body was sent for an autopsy at a local hospital
Police believed nobody else was involved in the incident

A 19-year-old Australian man who was touring the Thai island of Phuket died earlier this week after falling from the sixth floor of his hotel.

Surveillance cameras caught Canberra native Joshua James Connell slipping as he reached the end of the railings of the rooftop pool at Paripas Patong Resort, News.com.au reported.

Connell ended up falling 15 meters (49 feet) before landing on the kitchen roof of an adjacent restaurant.

His fall resulted in some of the roof's tiles being broken and falling to the floor of the restaurant, Pol. Lt. Col. Korkiat Boonplod, an inspector in the town of Patong, said, per the Thai newspaper The Bangkok Post.

Connell was taken to a hospital, but he was pronounced dead shortly after.

His body was submitted for an autopsy at the Patong Hospital.

Police are still investigating the case. Nobody else was involved in the incident.

Investigators interviewed hotel staff about Connell's behavior leading up to the incident.

He and a friend had checked in at the hotel the day before his fatal fall.

The Australian Embassy was reportedly in contact with the deceased man's family.

Connell's mother has since changed her Facebook profile picture to an image featuring the mother-son duo.

"No words will make this any easier. Devastating to hear of your loss, thinking of you and your family during this time," one commenter wrote.

"Deepest sympathy and condolences on the loss of your lovely son. Sending my love and strength," another one said.

In a similar incident, a 4-year-old boy fell out of a sixth-floor window in New York in April but survived.

The unidentified child fell from an apartment in the Bronx's Patterson Houses complex and landed on a patch of grass on April 5.

He had pushed part of the apartment's air conditioner unit out of the window and fell through the gap, officials said.

Police later arrived to find the boy conscious and alert, so he was expected to survive.

"He was trying to get up. He was conscious, but he wasn’t speaking. A guy was holding him in his arms. Then the cops came and scooped him right up. He’s lucky to be alive," said 38-year-old Jessica Lugo, a FedEx manager who saw the boy plunge down six floors.