An inquest into the passing of a 32-year-old skydiver has detailed there being ‘no reason’ to ‘suspect equipment failure’.
On April 27, Jade Damarell was involved in a ‘parachute incident’ after crashing onto farmland in Shotton Colliery in County Durham, UK.
The 32-year-old is reported by The Telegraph as having completed over 400 jumps.
Durham Constabulary noted it would not be treating the death as suspicious.
And on May 22, an inquest opening hearing took place into her passing.
Jade Damarell passed away at the age of 32 (Facebook/ Jade Damarell)
The post-mortem examination – which took place at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle – found Jade passed away as a result of ‘blunt trauma‘.
When asked by coroner Jeremy Chipperfield if there was any reason to ‘suspect equipment failure’ had led to Jade’s passing, coroner’s officer Alexis Blighe said: “No reason at all.”
And tributes have since flooded in for Jade – who was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong and lived in Caerphilly, South Wales.
Jade’s parents Andrew and Elizabeth Samuel confirmed her passing, telling reporters, as quoted by the Telegraph: “It is with immense sadness that we share the loss of our beloved daughter, Jade. A brilliant, beautiful, brave and truly extraordinary person.
Damarell was an experienced skydiver (Facebook/ Jade Damarell)
“A bright, adventurous, free spirit, she lived with immense energy, passion, and love, and touched countless lives with her warmth and kindness. Professionally, Jade was exceptionally talented and admired for her creativity and dedication in marketing.
“Personally, Jade had recently begun training for her pilot’s licence and as a keen Skydiver, Jade found freedom and purpose. Skydiving and its fantastic community meant so much to Jade and we’re incredibly comforted by how admired, respected and deeply loved she was.
“We miss her beyond words but Jade’s love, brilliance, courage and light will live on in our family and among all those who knew and loved her.”
The family extended their ‘heartfelt thanks’ to the emergency services and local first responders alongside the skydiving community’.
The skydiving community has spoken out in support (Facebook/ Jade Damarell)
Their statement resolved: “Your care and compassion means more to us than we can express[…] Please respect our family’s privacy as we come to terms with this devastating loss.”
Sky-High Skydiving said: “It is with great sadness that we confirm a tragic incident took place involving a valued member of our community.”
A spokesperson added: “This heartbreaking news has deeply affected all who knew her, and our thoughts are with her family and friends as they face this unimaginable loss. At this incredibly difficult time, we ask for privacy and compassion for those grieving.”
The brief opening hearing was adjourned until a full inquest is set to be begin – currently reported as taking place on August 21.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact GrieveWell on (734) 975-0238, or email info@grievewell.com.
The details of an investigation into a flight which flew without a pilot for nearly 10 minutes have been published revealing what happened to the first officer.
In February 2024, a Lufthansa flight – an Airbus A321 with over 200 people onboard – set off from Frankfurt, Germany, set to travel to Seville, Spain.
However, during the flight with around half-an-hour of the journey left, after experiencing 10 minutes with no first officer pilot navigating the plane, the aircraft was forced to be diverted to Madrid, Spain.
On Thursday (May 15), a report by Spanish investigators was published revealing the final report on the incident.
It’s reported by Business Insider the captain of the plane left the flight desk to go to the bathroom when there was around 30 minutes of the flight remaining.
The Lufthansa flight had to be diverted (Getty Images/ Andreas Haas)
When Lufthansa flight Airbus A321 was left without any pilot for around 10 minutes
During his interview about the incident, he told investigators when he left the cockpit, the first officer of the plane seemed fine.
However, when the captain returned eight minutes later, he was reportedly unable to access the cockpit anymore.
Despite multiple attempts to use the security door’s access code and a flight attendant’s intercom calling of the first officer, there was no response. And when the captain tried to use the emergency access code, he discovered the timer for it had run out.
The plane ultimately went without anyone in control of the aircraft for 10 minutes.
But what had happened to the first officer?
The flight was left without a pilot for nearly 10 minutes (Getty Images/ Stuart Pearce)
Investigation reveals what happened to first officer of flight
The first officer – who remains anonymous but is reported as being a 38-year-old man – told authorities he suddenly lost consciousness.
Thankfully, he came to enough to get up and open the door – the captain describing him as ‘pale, sweating and moving strangely’ when he saw him.
The captain immediately made the call to divert the plane to Madrid while cabin crew and a passenger – who identified themselves as a doctor – attended to the first officer.
The first officer was rushed to hospital as soon as the plane landed and it was resolved he had a neurological issue which meant he had a seizure disorder which had caused his ‘sudden and severe incapacitation’.
The investigation has prompted calls for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency to consider revising safety protocols, The Economic Times reports.
UNILAD has contacted Lufthansa and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency for comment.
Foreign authorities have spoken out after the body of a mom who was on vacation with her family in Turkey is returned home with her ‘heart missing’.
A British family say they have endured the ‘deepest level of trauma’ after a young mom-of-two died while on vacation in Turkey and was returned home with one of her major organs missing.
Beth Martin became unwell on the flight on April 27, and was rushed to Marmara University Hospital in Istanbul not long after arriving.
Tragically, the 28-year-old died just days later, but her husband Luke – who accompanied Beth alongside their two young children, aged eight and five – said they endured another nightmare with the Turkish authorities, accusing the hospital of removing her heart with ‘no explanation’ or consent.
Now, the Turkish Ministry of Health has broken its silence on the ordeal, stating that Beth died of a ‘cardiac arrest due to multiple organ failures’, according to the Daily Mail.
Beth Martin’s body came back to the UK without her heart, her devastated family have stated (GoFundMe)
Officials have further stated she did not ‘undergo any surgical procedures’ during the preliminary autopsy at the hospital, but did not confirm or deny if this took place when she was transferred to the Forensic Medicine Institute for a second autopsy.
The full statement reads: “The patient was recorded in the hospital records as a ‘forensic case’ in line with the statement of Martin’s wife that they may have been poisoned by a meal they ate in their country before the trip, and the initial findings.”
“A preliminary autopsy [without incision] was performed at the hospital in accordance with the forensic case procedure and his wife’s request in this regard.
“The exact cause of Martin’s death could not be determined with the current findings in the preliminary autopsy, which was carried out with the participation of the Public Prosecutor and the forensic medicine doctor.
The couple have two young children (GoFundMe)
“Beth Martin did not undergo any surgical procedures during her treatment at the hospital, and there was no question of any organs being removed.”
However, Beth’s family say they are left with more questions than answers.
Luke said he was ‘banned’ from seeing Beth while she was in intensive care, and fears the hospital may have administered her penicillin, which he said he told medics that she was allergic to.
Her husband was also quizzed by cops on whether he had poisoned her. He only learned of her death upon his release via a written statement.
He claims he was also allowed just ‘one minute, no more’ with Beth in the morgue before allegedly having to carry her body bag with the help of a translator through the hospital.
Luke said he’s endured serious trauma from the ordeal (GoFundMe)
It was then another battle just to get the mom-of-two’s body back home – when British coroners determined her heart was missing.
A GoFundMe for the family accuse the Turkish hospital of having ‘removed it’ with ‘no explanation’ or consent.
A medical negligence investigation has since been launched for The Marmara Pendik hospital over her unexplained death, the family added, while English coroners could take up to six months to determine what caused her organs to fail.
In a Facebook post, Luke added: “It has been the worst and most traumatic week of my entire life, and to top it off.. I had to break the news to my babies that their mum is not coming home, it broke me.”
The GoFundMe has since raised £256,020 (roughly $346,753) at the time of writing, and can be donated to here.
UNILAD has contacted the Turkish Ministry of Health for further comment.
A Royal Caribbean Icon of the Seas passenger has spoken out about what it was like when they first realized a man had gone overboard.
On Sunday (May 26) morning, a man went overboard on the world’s largest cruise ship and a passenger has since spoken out about the ‘dystopian’ scenes onboard.
A man went overboard from the cruise on 26 May (Joe Raedle/ Getty Images)
The cruise ship had departed the day before (May 25) from Miami, Florida and was set sail for Roatan in Honduras, expected to arrive on May 27.
The vessel was around 300 miles from Miami when a man was reported as having gone overboard.
According to the New York Post, passengers said the man had ‘jumped’ from the 1,200-foot-long cruise.
Videos emerged online of a rescue boat being launched in a bid to find the man, the Royal Caribbean cruise stopped for two hours and the Coast Guard was also called to assist.
A man was later recovered from the sea, the Coast Guard confirming in a statement to the Post: “The cruise ship deployed one of their rescue boats, located the man and brought him back aboard. He was pronounced deceased.
“Beyond assisting in the search, the US Coast Guard did not have much involvement in this incident.”
However, a passenger has since revealed there was confusion surrounding the results of the rescue mission back on board the ship.
Passengers shared videos of a search and rescue boat going out to find the man (X/ @GenAIChad)
Zachary Normandin was on board the cruise when the man went overboard.
The 31-year-old told The Post he and around 300 of the cruise’s up to 7,000 passengers were eating dinner when they were informed the man had been found.
Normandin said: “Everyone in the dining room clapped and we’re like ‘Yeah!’ We assumed that the guy was fine.”
And guests carried on with their celebrating, unaware the man had actually ended up passing away.
The ship then kept going on its journey, Normandin adding he ‘thought’ they’d be ‘going straight back to Miami’ but ‘everything just kept on going’.
“I think people we’re just trying not to think about it, maybe, I don’t know,” he added, reflecting on people continuing to just ‘go about their day’ as ‘kind of dystopian’.
Royal Caribbean said in a statement: “Our care team is actively providing support and assistance to the guest’s loved ones during this difficult time.
“For the privacy of the guest and their family, we have no additional details to share.”
UNILAD has contacted Royal Caribbean for further comment.
Evelyn Walker, from Hertfordshire, UK, has insisted she was just having a ‘normal morning’ in February this year when life as she knew it came to a terrifying end.
She described getting up, having breakfast and walking to school with her friend, where she arrived at about 8:30am.
“I felt fine that morning. Everything was normal until I started getting chest pains,” she recalled.
The 17-year-old ‘began feeling sick’, and before she knew it she ‘collapsed’.
“I don’t have any memories of the event. I completely blacked out. I just remember waking up in hospital a couple of days later,” she said.
Evelyn Walker was described as ‘healthy and vibrant’ before her cardiac arrest (Kennedy News and Media)
It was only after the incident that Evelyn learned what had happened. After she’d collapsed, staff jumped into action by trying to perform CPR, with one teacher grabbing the school’s on-site defibrillator.
Staff alerted the school’s medical officer, who shocked an unconscious Evelyn twice in a desperate bid to restart her heart.
Evelyn believes her heart had stopped for five whole minutes before she was stabilized, after which she was rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge to be placed in a three-day coma.
Her mom, Jennifer, described the ordeal as the ‘worst moment’ of her life, saying: “I was in bed asleep having a lie in and heard my phone going then just saw the word ‘ambulance’ on my phone.
“I just thought Evelyn had bumped her head or fallen over. Then the police were on my doorstep and I just thought she was dead. It was absolutely awful.”
Jennifer went to her daughter’s side, noting that ‘nothing like this had ever happened before’ as Evelyn was a ‘healthy, vibrant young girl’.
Jennifer described the ordeal as the ‘worst moment’ of her life (Kennedy News and Media)
Even prior to being hospitalized, Evelyn noted there were no major red flags that doctors were aware of.
The 17-year-old had previously experienced ‘mild chest pains’, prompting her to go to the doctor.
However, medics ‘just put it down to physical symptoms of anxiety’, and her pains ‘never got investigated’, she said.
Evelyn believes she may have had an underlying heart issue, with tests leading doctors to believe that the teen may have abnormalities in her heart.
However, the medical cause of her cardiac arrest is still under investigation.
“We still don’t know if that [the chest pains] was linked,” Evelyn said. “I’m quite frustrated I was just told it was anxiety, just because I’m a young person. I’m sure if I was over 60 complaining of chest pain, they would’ve looked into it further.”
Evelyn remained in hospital for a month after she collapsed before being fitted with an internal defibrillator to prevent any similar incidents in the future.
Now, Evelyn is urging people to be mindful of any symptoms they may experience.
Evelyn has now been fitted with a defibrillator (Kennedy News and Media)
“My outlook on life has really changed,” she said. “I thought I was young and healthy and nothing like this would ever happen to me…
“Don’t just assume doctors are right. You know your own body better than anyone else and if you think something is off then don’t be afraid to push and get it investigated. Heart problems can affect anyone.”
To help raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest in young people, Jennifer has launched a Facebook page called ‘Young Hearts UK’ and hopes to encourage more people to have CPR and AED (Automated External Defibrillator) training.
“[Sudden cardiac arrest] is fairly rare for young people but not unheard of. In fact, 12 young people under 35 die each week in the UK from a SCA. That’s why we want people to know CPR and to know where their nearest defibrillator is,” the mom said.
