A tourist who walked to the edge of a cliff then jumped on the spot to pose for a photograph fell to her death.
Hyewon Kim, 23, lost her footing at the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs in East Sussex, part of the Birling Gap natural beauty spot on England’s south coast. The cliffs are frequently used as a backdrop in TV shows and movies.
Kim, a student from South Korea, had asked a passer-by to take the picture of her jumping, an inquest into her death was told. The incident took place on June 22 this year.
Student falls to her death when she slips off crumbling Seven Sisters cliff after posing for a photo https://t.co/bi51VQPm4T pic.twitter.com/q8szDyvchN
— Mail+ (@DailyMailUK) October 13, 2017
According to a BBC report, a coroner's court in Eastbourne was told that Kim fell 60 metres and suffered "catastrophic injuries", which killed her.
Coroner Alan Craze, quoted by MailOnline, said: "She landed with one foot beyond the cliff edge and only her other foot landing on the cliff edge."
The website reported that police found several pictures on Kim's phone of her near the cliff edge with her back to the drop.
Kim was in the UK to study English, the report said, and had taken a day trip to the cliffs by herself.
The cliffs around the Birling Gap have long been highlighted by local officials as a safety hazard.
As well as the risk of falling off, the chalk formations are unstable and prone to rock slides and partial collapse.
The Seven Sisters website carries a prominent warning, which says: "chalk cliffs are naturally unstable and visitors should stay well away from the edge and the base of any cliff."
Nonetheless, photographs of tourists exploring the site show that the warnings are widely ignored.