Third British tourist in three weeks falls to death in Majorca

Police to investigate amid shock as "very sensible" 23-year-old dies at Magaluf hotel

"Nice, friendly and very sensible". That was how witnesses described Charlotte Faris, the 23-year-old British woman who fell 30ft from a hotel balcony in Majorca in the early hours of Saturday morning, becoming the third UK citizen to die on the island in three weeks.

Last night local police were seeking to establish what happened in the final moments of the young woman's life before she fell from the top-floor balcony at the Hotel Tiex in the resort of Magaluf.

The holidaymaker from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, had checked into the hotel with a female friend on Friday afternoon. Locals told The Independent yesterday that Ms Faris was a familiar face in the area, having apparently visited the region with the same friend last year.

Helmino Crespo, a manager at the Prince William Pub near the hotel, said: "We knew Charlotte from her time here last year. She and her friend were both very nice and always seemed sensible. What has happened is extremely sad and must be devastating for the family.

"When they arrived here on Friday evening they just had a few drinks; maybe two, and we were saying how nice it was to see you back. When they left sometime before midnight, they didn't seem very drunk at all."

Ms Faris is the third Briton to suffer a fatal fall at a Majorcan hotel in less than a month. Benjamin Harper, 28, from Twickenham, South West London, fell from a balcony at the four-star Sol Antillas on 20 April. It is believed that Mr Harper, a roofer, had gone for a cigarette.

Three days earlier, Adam Atkinson, 20, from Castleford, West Yorkshire, died at the three-star Hotel Martinique resort after falling down a stairwell.

The number of Britons dying during the summer on Majorca has become so high that the Foreign Office website now carries specific warnings for tourists intending to visit the island.

Mr Cristo said the responsibility for guests' personal safety should lie with their tour companies. He said: "The Tiex hotel has been around for nearly 20 years and it has never had this problem. Tonight we are hosting six or seven stag parties; and 70 per cent of our customers are British.

"We can eject guests if we think they are loud and disturbing other people. But if you get someone coming to the bar and asking for a drink you cannot refuse to serve them. It is for the tour operators to explain the risk surrounding drinking. Life here must go on."

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said they were providing assistance to Ms Faris' family.