Woman dies after opening plane door during flight

An inquest into the death British student who fell from a plane after opening the door mid-flight has revealed shocking details.

Last year, Nineteen-year-old Cambridge University student Alana Cutland, who was on a research trip, fell from a light aircraft shortly after it took off from an airport in remote northwestern Madagascar.

Cutland’s uncle has previously said she became sick during her time in Madagascar, possibly due to prescription medication, with police investigating whether a possible reaction to an anti-malaria drug led her to open the plane door on purpose.

An inquest into her death that begun earlier this month found a direct link between her death and malaria medication she had been taking; the coroner concluded that Alana had suffered from ‘psychosis or delirium’.

A statement at the time of her death by Cédric Martin, general manager of the Anjajavy Le Lodge which runs the project Alana was working on, claimed that hours before the flight the student was “sitting on a chair and staring into space”.

He added: “She began to show some signs of paranoia by telling me that she was afraid to end up in prison in Madagascar if she did not finish her research.”