Man survives fall from 15th floor of New Zealand apartment block

[NeverSayDie]

Briton survives fall from 15th floor of New Zealand apartment block

Man, 20, was attempting to jump to his balcony from neighbouring flat when he fell

Associated Press in Auckland
The Guardian, Monday 17 June 2013 09.29 BST

Briton Tom Stilwell fell from an apartment building in Auckland, above. Photograph: Getty

A man was recovering in a hospital on Monday after surviving a plunge from the 15th floor of his New Zealand apartment building.

Police said the 20-year-old discovered he was locked out of his 14th floor unit in the Volt Apartment building in downtown Auckland at about 2am local time on Sunday.

He decided to try to scale down the outside of the building from an apartment directly above his. Police said he was trying to land on his balcony when he fell, landing on the roof of an adjacent building far below.

He was at first listed in critical condition but had improved by Monday to a satisfactory condition.

The New Zealand Herald identified the man as Tom Stilwell, a Briton in the country on a working holiday. Friend Dave Thomas told the paper Stilwell had suffered neck and back fractures, a broken wrist, and suspected internal injuries.

Volt Apartment resident Geraldine Bautista told the paper that Stilwell knocked on her door on the 15th floor at about 2am. She said he appeared to have been drinking but she was not fearful of him.

"He just requested 'Can you please let me jump off from the balcony? I will not bother you, just let me use your balcony,'" Bautista said.

She said she never thought he would follow through.

"In my mind I thought 'OK, I'll just let you see that it's really impossible. I didn't think he'd jump, because it's really scary," Bautista told the paper.

She said after she opened the door, he quickly walked through the apartment and climbed over the railing on the balcony. Bautista said she grabbed at his hand but he fell.

"It happened so fast. It happened within seconds. I couldn't even scream for help. He was like a paper falling from here," she said.

Dr Tony Smith, director of the St John medical charity in New Zealand, told the paper that surviving falls from such heights was "extraordinarily unusual".

 

[GroundllControl]

British man who survived 15th floor fall from New Zealand apartment 'expected to make full recovery'

• Tom Stilwell, 20, fell from the 15th floor of a high rise in Auckland while trying to get into his locked apartment
  
• He is being treated at Auckland Hospital for a broken neck, back and wrist

By RICHARD SHEARS PUBLISHED: 07:06 GMT, 17 June 2013 | UPDATED: 12:07 GMT, 17 June 2013

A young Briton who is lucky to be alive after falling 13 storeys from a New Zealand apartment block admitted today: 'I can't remember a thing about it.' But Englishman Tom Stilwell, 20, from Brighton added: 'Everyone tells me I'm a very lucky man to have survived.' Still in intensive care at Auckland City Hospital, Mr Stilwell has had operations for broken bones and internal injuries - but he has astonished medical experts with his amazing survival.

Survivor: Tom Stilwell survived a fall from the 15th floor of an apartment block in New Zealand

Doctors say that if he had not landed on the roof of an adjacent building - which prevented him falling a further two storeys - they have no doubt he would have been killed. Mr Stilwell, who is on a working holiday in New Zealand, fell from a neighbour's 15th storey balcony in an impossible attempt to lower himself to the balcony of his own apartment on the 14th floor. He had found he was locked out of his high rise apartment and decided to ask his upstairs neighbour if he could go onto her balcony and drop down to his own.


The neighbour, Geraldine Bautista, 28, said Mr Stilwell, who was 'a little bit tipsy', woke her up at two o'clock in the morning. 'I wasn't scared of him,' she told the New Zealand Herald. 'He just requested "Can you please let me jump off from the balcony. I will not bother you, just let me use your balcony." 'I never thought he would really do that. In my mind I thought "OK, I'll just let you see that it's really impossible." I didn't think he'd jump because it's really scary.'

But Mr Stilwell was determined to jump - as she soon found out. He walked through Miss Bautista's flat and out onto her balcony, which is about 3ft wide and before she could react he had one leg over the railing. 'I asked him "Are you all right? It's unsafe to jump over the rail. He never said anything…I grabbed his hand and then at that time he fell down. 'I thought I was dreaming. It happened so fast; it happened in seconds. I couldn't even scream for help. He was like a paper falling from here.'

High rise: Mr Stilwell is lucky to be alive after falling from the 15th floor of the Volt building in Auckland, New Zealand

Mr Stilwell suffered fractures to his neck, his back and his wrist, as well as sustaining internal injuries, and he was rushed to hospital in a critical condition. But his best friend and flatmate, Dave Thomas, said that 'by a miracle' he was now recovering after emergency treatment in the intensive care unit. 'He can't remember anything about the fall,' said Mr Thomas, who spoke to his friend briefly yesterday. 'He's a very lucky man.' Mr Thomas said the two of them had been on a night out with fellow travellers when Mr Stilwell became separated from them and went home alone. 'He'd had a fair bit to drink,' said Mr Thomas, 'but I was only 10 to 15 minutes behind him when I headed home.'

He recalled that when he and a third flatmate reached the front door of their apartment block they were met by police searching for identification for the seriously injured man. 'This isn't typical behaviour of him,' said Mr Thomas. 'He's normally the sensible one out of all of us.' Medical experts are astonished at Mr Stilwell's survival. St John medical director Dr Tony Smith said survival from such a great height was 'extraordinary'. 'We've seen patients in Auckland who have had their falls broken by awnings over windows, umbrellas, those sorts of things,' he said. 'But the roof this young man fell on to would not have prevented serious injury. From that sort of height you can have injuries to everything and anything. Survival from falls of that height are extraordinarily unusual.'

Being under the influence of alcohol would not have relaxed the body to the point that serious injury would not occur, said Dr Smith. 'It's like being in a car crash. If you're going to hit something at speed, relaxed or not is not going to make much difference.' Mr Stilwell's friends said they have been told by doctors that if he continues to make progress he might be able to leave hospital in about a week to 10 days.

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