An inquest has heard that a young woman died in the sea after being carried away by waves while she and her boyfriend were taking pictures of a well-known lighthouse close to Beachy Head in Eastbourne.
Dora Mango, a 26-year-old pharmacist, was discovered face-down in the water off the town’s beach in East Sussex.
Ms. Mango and her boyfriend Jerry left their Redhill, Surrey home on a sightseeing trip to the coast.
The 26-year-old drowned despite Jerry’s efforts to dive in and save her after she was swept off a rock.
The woman, who was of Hungarian descent, had strolled along the base of the cliff at Beachy Head in order to take pictures of the close-by Belle Tout lighthouse.
The couple eventually realised they were trapped after noticing the tide quickly coming in after some time spent walking.
The couple quickly became stranded on a small section of the beach. At this point, they knew they needed to call for assistance, but they had no signal.
In a statement, Jerry said that Ms Mango climbed onto a rock as he desperately swam for help, but that was the last time he would ever see his girlfriend alive.
On October 24, we both used a set of metal stairs, took pictures of each other, and then made the decision to walk towards the lighthouse. We positioned ourselves to take pictures about 500 metres from the lighthouse. The tide was rapidly approaching at this time, according to his statement.
We started walking back after saying that we needed to go back but were stopped by the tide. We were both on a small section of the beach at just after noon. We screamed for help and tried to call for assistance, but there was no phone signal.
“Dora set herself up on a rock, and I swam around for about 50 metres to get to the beach.” On the beach, I came across a couple, and an older guy had just dialled 911. When the tide had in some way turned, this was the time.
Martime Coastguard Agency reports that a rescue squad, two helicopters, and many lifeboats were deployed.
After being ultimately located, Ms. Mango was brought to shore and given CPR before being transported by helicopter to King’s College Hospital in London.
But when the pharmacist had arrived at the hospital with no pulse half an hour earlier, physicians declared her dead at 4 o’clock. The whole thing took one hour and forty minutes.
Jerry’s caller, Stewart Walker, testified at the inquiry on his behalf: “Jerry walked up to us and we could see he was drenched through.” He seemed to be without shoes because of his discomfort. He said that his girlfriend was still stuck around the corner when he informed us about her.
“I walked as far back as I could to get a signal.” Approximately four times, I dialled 999 because the signal kept dropping. Jerry was yelling in agony, ‘It’s very uncomfortable to run on the stones there,’ so we attempted to see if we could use our belts to get around the boulder.
The two then saw two rucksacks floating in the water, prompting Jerry to dive right in, but he was forced to exit owing to the choppy waters, according to Mr. Walker.
Jerry Walker’s safety came to Mr. Walker’s mind once the coastguards arrived. He remarked, “Jerry looked gone, he was flat, and I was worried about him.”
“He appeared to be broken, lost, and forgotten.”
When the pair made their way down to the beach at Birling Gap, Coroner’s Officer David Tye looked around to see whether there were any tidal warning signs.
He testified at the court that “No departure at high tide” and “No safe access beyond this point” were posted on the property. A tidal schedule and walking hours were provided. Significant warning signs were there for walkers.
However, Mr. Walker, who often visits that part of the beach, stopped the inquiry to add, “Those signs are new. Timings were only written on a whiteboard before.
The post-mortem investigation of Ms. Mango’s corpse revealed that drowning was likely the cause of death, according to coroner Ms. Bradford.
They were planning to go to the beach, but something went wrong, and Dora unfortunately died. Dora Mango’s death may be summed up in one word: misadventure.