Student (20) fell to death at Cliffs of Moher when slipping at edge of 'huge puddle'
Gordon Deegan
A 20-year-old University of Edinburgh student slipped and fell to her death while walking at the side of a ‘huge puddle’ on a muddy part of a trail beside the cliff edge at the Cliffs of Moher in May 2024, an inquest has heard.
At the Clare Coroner’s Court in Kilrush on Friday, three college friends of the late Roxan Bastaens gave eye-witness testimony of Ms Bastaens's final moments before she fell to her death at one of Ireland’s most popular natural tourist attractions.
Ms Bastaens was weeks away from celebrating her 21st birthday in June of last year.
At the inquest, County Coroner, Isobel O’Dea gave a verdict of ‘accidental death’ concerning Ms Bastaens losing her life near Hag’s Head at the Cliffs of Moher.
Members of Ms Bastaens’s family had travelled to Kilrush for the inquest.
Ms O’Dea told them: “Unfortunately, we have a number of deaths at the Cliffs of Moher each year and this was an absolute accident.”
The coroner said the post-mortem found Ms Bastaens died as a result of polytrauma as a result of a fall from a height.
She told the family members that her death “would have been instantaneous and she wouldn’t have suffered”.
Ms Bastaens's death was the second recorded accidental death at the Cliffs of Moher in 2024.
On July 23rd, 2024, a 12-year-old boy, Zhihan Zhao, slipped in a puddle close to the edge of the Cliffs of Moher before falling over the edge to his death.
In relation to Ms Bastaens’s death, the inquest heard that four female friends, two French, one Italian, and a Belgian national, Ms Bastaens were spending their academic year at the University of Edinburgh and arrived in nearby Doolin the night before with the intention of hiking in the area.
Italian-born college student, Guilia Bracchi was walking behind Ms Bastaens when she fell.
None of the three eye-witnesses were present in Kilrush on Friday, but in her deposition to gardaí read out at the inquest, Ms Bracchi said that there was a “big puddle” in the middle of the trail as they walked south in the direction of Hag’s Head away from the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre.
The four were walking the trail for about one hour before stopping for lunch at around midday, and continued walking after their lunch. Ms Bracchi said that “the trail was protected at the beginning, but later on it got slippery and there was no barrier”.
Ms Bracchi said that conditions were calm, she said, “We all had hiking boots on. It was not difficult."
After 1pm on Saturday, May 4th 2024, Ms Bracchi said they walked single file as they approached ‘the big puddle’ with Roxan and Catherine Didier walking in front of her.
Ms Bracchi said: “I had seen lots of people walking in exactly the same way before us."
"There were hundreds of people on the Cliffs. The impression was that the trail was safe”.
Ms Bracchi said that Roxan had her camera in her hand and was looking at her steps as she walked around the puddle.
She said she saw Roxan’s foot going to the side where the trail was muddy, and “she fell forward and she started tumbling down and I tried to catch her, but I couldn’t. It all happened so fast.”
“I looked down and I saw her hit off the cliffs twice and then she then went out of sight," she said.
Ms Bracchi said that some moments later, she could see Roxan’s body face down in the water.
French-born student, Catherine Didier, was walking in front of Roxan and Ms Didier said when they came to the puddle, "we walked in a single line on the cliff side of the puddle".
She said: “I walked past the puddle no problem. I balanced and I didn’t slip - I had to be careful. When I passed the puddle I turned around and I saw Roxan slipping off the edge. I tried to lean towards her to catch her but she was too far away - I got an awful fright, I started panicking."
“I didn’t want to look over the edge so I didn’t want to see her fall into the water. Then we started calling people for help and we called the emergency services."
The fourth student on the trip, Prune Dussud, said that when they came to “a huge puddle, we came to walk on the cliff side of the puddle”.
“At this point I was looking down at my feet. I heard my friend Guilia gasp. When I looked up I was aware that Roxan had fallen. Everything had happened so quickly. I am not sure how it happened.
“One second Roxan was there, and the next she was gone," she said.
Garda Sarah Tubritt told the inquest that she was alerted to a female falling off the Cliffs of Moher at 1.25pm.
Ms Bastaens’s remains were recovered from the water at 3:10pm by the RNLI boat launched from the Aran Islands. The unit brought the body to the station of the Doolin Coast Guard unit, and Ms Bastaens was officially pronounced dead there.
The R1115 coastguard helicopter also assisted in the search, and Garda Tubritt said that the body was seen falling off the Cliffs in the vicinity of Hag’s Head near Slattery’s Quarry.
At the conclusion of the Insp Ronan McMahon told family members that Gardaí would escort them to the Cliffs of Moher if they wished.
He said: “Ye won’t be able to go to the exact spot as it is fenced off. It is very hard to explain to you about the height of the cliffs and the terrain there."
Ms O’Dea said that Ms Bastaens’s blood sample was negative for any alcohol or drugs.
On August 22nd last year, the Clare Local Development Company closed off large sections of the Cliffs of Moher trail. It remains closed off today due to continuing safety concerns.
At the time, the Clare Local Development Company confirmed that it was taking the action following the two recent fatal accidents on the Cliffs of Moher trail.
