British holidaymaker has died after falling 40ft from a hotel during a forfeit for losing a game of poker.
Mark Day, 20, plunged to his death in a freak accident on Sunday night during a holiday with university friends at the three-star Majorca Beach Hotel in the resort of Magalluf. Police sources revealed that after losing a game of cards he was dared to strip off and run along a hotel corridor in just his socks and underpants.
But he lost his balance at the end of the passageway and smashed through a fifth-floor window, falling to concrete below. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics shortly after 8pm. Mr Day's friends, Marc Smart and Steve Kimberley, both 21, who studied with him at the University of Essex, are helping police piece together the events leading up to the incident. A source said: "We're not clear yet whether he slipped because he lost his balance as he ran with just his socks on or whether he was running too fast and couldn't stop in time. "But he crashed through the window and fell more than 40 feet from the corridor which was on the fifth-floor. "We believe the victim had been drinking and that may also have impaired his judgement." The hotel refused to make an official comment but a receptionist said: "The dead man was with two friends who are talking to the police at the moment. We don't expect them to return to the hotel." The pair, who were sharing room 519 with the victim, have been moved to another hotel by travel firm Thomas Cook. Although police have ruled out anything suspicious related to the death, an investigating judge has now taken charge of a routine investigation. The 11-storey hotel Majorca Beach Hotel is located directly opposite the beach in Magalluf and is popular with British holidaymakers. Mr Day death is the third accident of its type this year so far in Majorca and comes amid high season at holiday resorts across the Mediterranean. An 18-year-old holidaymaker was seriously injured last Monday after falling from his fifth-floor hotel balcony in Magalluf. A fortnight ago another teenager was injured after falling from his apartment in the Port of Alcudia in the north east of the island.