A British student has died after falling from a fourth-floor balcony in Mallorca
James Walton, 23, a Sheffield Hallam University student who was on a placement year on the Spanish island, was killed virtually instantly after plunging from a friend’s flat.
He suffered fatal injuries after falling head-first onto a pavement below the apartment block in the island capital Palma, it emerged yesterday.
Friends began to pay tribute to him on social media hours after the tragedy on Sunday morning, with one friend posting videos of him dancing at nightspots where he appeared to be the life and soul of the party.
Police believe James, who spoke German as well as Spanish, lost his balance after a drunken St Patrick’s Day party with friends he was working with at the hotel chain and others visiting from the UK.
A passer-by alerted the emergency services just after 6am on Sunday after discovering James lying on the pavement in a street in the centre of Palma called Calle Aragon.
Efforts by paramedics to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A well-placed source said: “They had been partying in the flat and there were bottles of alcohol lying around.
“It was St Patrick’s Day on Saturday and they had been celebrating.
“The friends confirmed the dead man’s identity after being informed about what had happened.
“Two of the men inside the apartment were living there and another two were visiting.”
James, who grew in Ealing, west London, and was educated at Twyford Church of England School in nearby Acton, had started at Sheffield Hallam University in 2015 and was due to graduate next year.