A French tourist died inside the Fatehpur Sikri Fort on September 21 after falling from a nine-foot-tall platform when the surrounding wooden railing broke. She was identified as Esma Benyelles, a 61-year-old woman who was sightseeing along with a group of 25 other French tourists.
An official of the Archaeological Survey of India said that the woman who died belonged to a group of French tourists who were taking photos at the Turkish Sultana Palace inside the fort when the wooden railing suddenly broke, unable to withstand their combined weight.
French Tourist Dies After Falling From Fatehpur Sikri
The woman suffered severe head injuries from falling off the platform onto the stone floor. She was immediately rushed to the SN Medical College and then shifted to a private hospital in Agra, where the doctors declared her dead on arrival.
The ASI official, Raj Kumar Patel, said that the woman became unconscious after she fell, and they suspected an internal head injury as there was no bleeding. The staff immediately called for an ambulance, but it took some time to arrive.
In a statement to the press, the ASI official said, “The tragic incident took place at the palace of Turkey Sultana near Khwabgah on Fatehpur Sikri premises on Thursday afternoon. The French woman was leaning on a wooden railing installed to caution people not to proceed beyond it,” he said.
By then, some tourist guides present at the monument had arranged for an ambulance and taken the French tourist to a hospital. It took nearly an hour for an ambulance to get to the spot due to the lack of ambulances around the fort.
As reported by India Today, a local tour guide anonymously said that the railing that broke was installed after the COVID-19 pandemic and had been loose several months before the incident.
He also alleged that there were no ambulances in Fatehpur Sikri, and the one who used to take the injured French tourist to the hospital was called from Kiraoli, which is located 20 kilometres away.
The additional district magistrate will conduct an investigation into the incident, and allegations regarding the lack of availability of ambulances nearby will also be looked into. District Magistrate Bhanu Goswami said that anyone found negligent would face legal action.
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