SELFIE TOURIST DIES IN HORROR PLUNGE Film-maker dad falls from wall
A TOURIST plunged 30ft to his death taking a selfie at an ancient temple in India.
Roger Stotesbury, 58, slipped from the edge of the wall at the Laxmi Narayan Temple in Orchha as he was angling his camera.
He was on a year-long round-the-world trip with his wife Hilary. India was their final stop before heading home.
Hilary was only feet away when the horrifying incident happened and she immediately rushed to get help.
The father-of-two is believed to have broken his back in the fall on Friday. He later died at Raja Ram hospital.
Prateek Kumar, a senior police officer, said: “We understand he was trying to take a picture of himself on the wall which is only around three feet wide.
“His wife Hilary was standing just three to four feet away from him when the incident happened. They were alone. They did not have a guide.”
He said doctors will carry out an autopsy but that an initial examination suggested he died of a cardiac arrest and he had suffered spinal cord injuries.
The couple, from Buckingham, started their travels last November.
They had a blog titled Our Middle Aged Gap Year. On it, they wrote: “We are Hilary and Roger a married couple from England/Scotland who are in their mid fifties. Hilary’s motto is ‘just do it’ whilst Roger’s is ‘to die young as late as possible’.
“We took the view that on your deathbed you never wish you’d spent more time in the office.
“We’ve seen our two kids off into the wider world and we have no more caring responsibilities for our parents.
“So we thought now is the time to take a gap year and travel whilst we still have the health and energy. After all, you only live once.”
The blog shows snaps of the pair across Europe, America and Asia including visits to the Atacama desert and the Amazon. They landed in New Delhi on October 9, checking in to popular tourist destination Orchha three days later.
Roger, a documentary filmmaker, posted on Tuesday: “Potentially our toughest travelling will be the gap year finale. Our 22nd country is a travellers’ enigma.
“India is the stuff of dreams, colour, smells, extremes, contradictions and sacred cows.”
On Thursday he said the Taj Mahal was “the perfect place to celebrate Hilary’s birthday”.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are providing assistance to the family of a British man following his tragic death in India on 13 October. Our thoughts are with the family at this sad time.”