Villagers join hunt for plane plunge Briton

Villagers have joined the search for a Cambridge student who leapt to her death from a light aircraft 3,700ft above the Madagascan jungle.

alana Cutland, 19, who was on a research trip as part of her natural sciences degree, flung open the plane’s door and jumped out 11 days ago as she was starting her journey home after her family became concerned about her state of mind.

Some 400 locals in anjajavy, a remote part of Madagascar, have been hunting for her body in a swamp.

Today they plan to sacrifice one of their cattle, a zebu, in a religious ceremony seeking help from their god in the search.

The ritual will take place at the airstrip from which the four- seater Cessna 182 took off on July 25.

The head of the village, Chief Prosper, said: ‘We have been searching hard. We have not found her. We will ask god to bless the search. We will cook the meat of the zebu and feed it to the searchers and this will give them god’s help.’

Miss Cutland, from Milton Keynes, was researching a tiny species of crab, but became paranoid. Her parents grew alarmed at her incoherent phone calls and persuaded her to cut short her trip.

a British teacher, ruth Johnson, offered to chaperone Miss Cutland and tried to cling on to her as she threw herself out of the plane minutes after take-off.