RESORT DEATHS SPARK ACTION TO SAVE LIVES
WHEN Georgia Hague’s friend plunged to her death on the Spanish holiday resort of Magaluf she was left heartbroken. But Georgia, 26, from Wrexham, channelled her grief in a bid to prevent others from suffering the fate of mate Natalie Cormack.
Natalie fell from the “walkway of death,” near the Eden Roc apartment complex, in April 2018.
The 19-year-old, who worked in a bar in the resort town, plunged to her death on her way home. Natalie wasn’t the last person that summer to fatally fall.
Tom Hughes, from Wrexham, was discovered in the courtyard garden at Eden Roc in June 2018.
The 20-year-old had fallen to his death following a night out just two months after Natalie’s death.
And less than a month later, on July 12, Thomas Channon fell to his death during a night out in Magaluf. The 18-year-old, from Rhoose, had reportedly become separated from his group.
Georgia Hague, who lives in Wrexham, was in Magaluf at the time and called the deaths “preventable.”
The 26-year-old had gone to Majorca in 2018 in a bid to stop “wasting her life away” in an office job.
She found work in a bar and became friends with Natalie - just a few weeks before her tragic passing.
Georgia said: “I was out doing my first season and [she] was one of the first people I’d got to know.
“She died within weeks of me meeting her and it really affected me.
“I remember the day so clearly,” Georgia continued, “she died at 6am but I didn’t find out until 5pm.”
Georgia further commented:
“The worst thing was that this was not shocking news to many Magaluf residents and workers who had been on the scene long before me.”
She described the local attitude as “blase,” as if Natalie “was far from the first and wouldn’t be the last.”
The walkway is the entrance to the apartment complex where many youngsters live whilst in Magaluf.
The apartment is set into the hill so the walkway, accessed at street level, is six storeys above ground.
Georgia explained that there’s a low wall along the edge with shubbery behind it, but people often accidentally enter the complex, mistaking it for a hotel a bit further along - especially after a night out.
She said that some think they can jump over the wall to get across, unaware of the sheer drop below. It was a mistake that ultimately cost the lives of Mr Channon and Mr Hughes.
Georgia stayed on the Balearic island for two years - launching a campaign called ‘Don’t Leave a Friend Behind.’
She also supported a British Government consular campaign, called ‘stick with your mates’, featuring in a video that reached millions of young people.
Early statistics indicate that her campaign has had a positive impact, with Georgia, who now works in Wrexham, awarded a British Empire Medal for her work with the Foreign Office.
She added: “If the campaign helped to save just one life, then that means the world to me.”