Boy fell to his death from White Cliffs of Dover on his 12th birthday
A young boy who fell to his death from the White Cliffs of Dover was celebrating his 12th birthday on the first day of a family holiday, an inquest has heard. Mati Urb was visiting Kent with his parents and two siblings for the Easter break. The Estonian family, who moved to London in 2021, planned a trip around the south coast of England in a camper van. But during a walk along the famous clifftop, Mati’s parents lost sight of their son and started to look for him. A passer-by eventually called the Coastguard at around 6.15pm, who deployed a lifeboat, helicopter and Kent Police officers out to search for Mati. He was spotted an hour later at the base of the cliffs, in an area that is inaccessible on foot. He was given medical treatment but was declared dead at the scene less than two hours later. A post-mortem found that he died from head injuries. At an inquest in Maidstone, coroner Katrina Hepburn ruled the youngster’s death was an accident. Ms Hepburn said: ‘I don’t know how Mati came to fall from the cliff – it was unwitnessed. Whether he tripped and fell, whether it was the wind, or whether he was looking too far over the edge, I simply don’t know. I know that’s of no comfort to the family to have this unexplained as to how Mati came to fall.’
Seems to have done almost exactly as happened to me when I was about that age, but where I managed to survive by the existence of one larger tuft of grass. The grassy top is rounded (so not easy to see how close one is to the edge) and rather lumpy, such that a trip is quite possible, and once started might not be such as to be easily stopped. Happened to me, but I was very lucky. After tripping over the grass, falling and rolling, and then finding myself sliding down on my front as the top curved downwards, I remember vainly trying to stop my falling by grasping the short grass as I began to go ever faster, and where most of which just tore away in my hands. Fortunately one large lump of grass was bigger and tougher than the others, and which saved me. Poor boy, could just as well have been me, and like this boy, no one was around to witness my incident.
Of course I can't be sure that it was the same place where I tripped, but the cliff-top path is likely to be the main tourist walk in the area. I suppose contacting the family to tell my story might not help much?
A young boy who fell to his death from the White Cliffs of Dover was celebrating his 12th birthday on the first day of a family holiday, an inquest has heard. Mati Urb was visiting Kent with his parents and two siblings for the Easter break. The Estonian family, who moved to London in 2021, planned a trip around the south coast of England in a camper van. But during a walk along the famous clifftop, Mati’s parents lost sight of their son and started to look for him. A passer-by eventually called the Coastguard at around 6.15pm, who deployed a lifeboat, helicopter and Kent Police officers out to search for Mati. He was spotted an hour later at the base of the cliffs, in an area that is inaccessible on foot. He was given medical treatment but was declared dead at the scene less than two hours later. A post-mortem found that he died from head injuries. At an inquest in Maidstone, coroner Katrina Hepburn ruled the youngster’s death was an accident. Ms Hepburn said: ‘I don’t know how Mati came to fall from the cliff – it was unwitnessed. Whether he tripped and fell, whether it was the wind, or whether he was looking too far over the edge, I simply don’t know. I know that’s of no comfort to the family to have this unexplained as to how Mati came to fall.’
Seems to have done almost exactly as happened to me when I was about that age, but where I managed to survive by the existence of one larger tuft of grass. The grassy top is rounded (so not easy to see how close one is to the edge) and rather lumpy, such that a trip is quite possible, and once started might not be such as to be easily stopped. Happened to me, but I was very lucky. After tripping over the grass, falling and rolling, and then finding myself sliding down on my front as the top curved downwards, I remember vainly trying to stop my falling by grasping the short grass as I began to go ever faster, and where most of which just tore away in my hands. Fortunately one large lump of grass was bigger and tougher than the others, and which saved me. Poor boy, could just as well have been me, and like this boy, no one was around to witness my incident.
Of course I can't be sure that it was the same place where I tripped, but the cliff-top path is likely to be the main tourist walk in the area. I suppose contacting the family to tell my story might not help much?