WOMAN DIES AFTER FALLING FROM SEVENTH-FLOOR HOTEL WINDOW IN BRAZIL

A woman has died after falling from a seventh-floor window at the Rio Poty Hotel in São Luís, Brazil. Renata Rebeca Negrão Saldanha dos Santos fell at around 1.30am on Tuesday, 3 November, while talking to her boyfriend outside their room. CCTV footage shows her sitting back on the window frame before an aluminium panel gave way, sending her backwards. She landed on a canopy above the hotel entrance and was given first aid, but died of her injuries. Police are treating the death as accidental.

Her boyfriend, named as Leonardo Augusto Pinto França, was questioned and released without being treated as a suspect. Police chief George Marques, who is leading the inquiry, said the footage showed "there was no type of aggression, there was no push, he wasn't even near her." França told officers he could not remember the fall, though police said he may be called back for a further statement. Officers said the couple had been drinking during a night out and appeared drunk. The pair, from Ananindeua in Pará state, had been staying at the hotel since 28 October for a poker tournament and were due to fly home that day.

The Rio Poty Hotel said it expresses its deepest condolences for the death and extends its solidarity to her family and friends. Maranhão's state secretariat of public security has opened an investigation into the window structure, with forensic experts examining the hotel and tests still ongoing. The secretariat said there are "no technical conclusions" so far on what caused the structure to detach or whether any irregularities were involved. According to broadcaster TV Mirante, the couple had been together since July.