Eloise HorsfieldBRITISH diving sensation Tom Daley is heading a campaign against a perilous craze which has already killed three Brits and a German in Spain this summer.
The deadly practice of ‘balconing’, as it has become known, involves crossing between balconies – or sometimes even attempting to reach the hotel pool from the balcony.
As reported in the Olive Press in summer 2010, balconing is most often carried out by youngsters on holiday – often in the early hours of the morning while drunk.
In April this year, 28-year-old Londoner Benjamin Harper suffered a fatal fall from a fifth-floor balcony in Mallorca, while in May Charlotte Faris, 23, from Hertfordshire, died after falling from a third-floor balcony.
In June, a 19-year-old German tourist died in Lloret de Mar after trying to jump between seventh floor balconies in the middle of the night.
In all cases alcohol plays a huge part.
Now 18-year-old Daley, a world champion diver who was Britain’s youngest competitor in the 2008 Olympics, is helping warn against the dangers of balconing.
Launched by the British consul for the Balearics, Paul Abrey, the campaign will run throughout summer in the bars and clubs of Ibiza, Menorca and Mallorca.
And Daley’s message is clear, telling tourists to ‘leave the jumping to the professionals’.
He continues: “Never jump from a balcony and never drink or take drugs before swimming.”
I am not sure that the sort of cretins who do this will be influenced by sensible advice, or are likely to remember it in the early / late hours of the morning, fuelled by alcohol and whatever substances they have managed to get hold of. Being told by officialdom that what they are doing is stupid may be more likely to spur them on. They are all candidates for the Darwin Awards.
Wrong approach – let them do it as much as they like without landing on innocent bystanders. “In all cases alcohol plays a huge part”. They are drunk, stupid and maybe crazy to do this…. but that eliminates drunk, stupid and maybe crazy people from the sane population.
What are the LAST four words muttered by an Italian college student just before he fell to his death off the balcony?
“HEY GUYS, WATCH THIS!”