Man dies after reported fall from London’s Tate Modern
LONDON: A man died on Friday after reports that he fell from London’s Tate Modern, prompting the closure of the gallery and a police investigation.
The Metropolitan Police said the death was being treated as “unexpected” but it was “not thought to be suspicious”.
The incident comes nearly five years after a British teenager threw a six-year-old French boy from a 10th-floor balcony at the landmark museum, causing lifechanging injuries.
It is unclear where exactly the man who died Friday had fallen from.
The Met said in a statement that officers were called “to reports of a man fallen from the Tate Modern”.
“Officers, London’s Air Ambulance and London Ambulance Service attended. Despite the efforts of medics at the scene the man sadly died at the scene,” the force added.
“The death is currently being treated as unexpected but is not thought to be suspicious,” the Met said, noting enquiries were under way to identify the man and notify his next of kin.
The gallery said it had closed for the remainder of the day “as a mark of respect”.
“We are very sad to report that a member of the public passed away at Tate Modern this morning,” a statement said, adding staff’s thoughts were “with the person’s family and friends at this time”.
The Tate Modern, which opened in 2000 in a striking former power station building on the south bank of the River Thames, is one of Britain’s leading attractions.
Around 3.6 million people visited it from January to September last year, according to
the latest statistics from Britain’s Museum Association.
Its 10th-floor viewing platform, opened in an extension building in 2016, has proved contentious.
Jonty Bravery was jailed in 2020 for attempted murder after throwing a young French boy, aged six and on holiday with his family, onto a fifth-floor roof from the platform the previous August.
The boy suffered a broken spine, legs and arms, as well as a head injury as a result.
Bravery, who was 17 at the time, said in the immediate aftermath he had carried out the assault because he was not getting the appropriate care for mental health issues.
Meanwhile last year, owners of luxury flats adjacent to the gallery won a legal battle requiring it to prevent visitors from seeing into their flats from the gallery.