New Zealand tourist killed after falling from rooftop during party

Çetin Aydın – ISTANBUL

A New Zealand tourist died at a terrace salsa party in Istanbul after a makeshift bridge connecting two rooftops collapsed, resulting in the woman plummeting 10 meters.

According to testimony from friends, 31-year-old Keshia Handa was a New Zealander living in Australia who traveled the world to participate in dance parties. 

Handa and two friends arrived in Istanbul on Sept. 16 and checked into a hotel in Istanbul’s Asmalımescit neighborhood in Beyoğlu to attend a dance party at the same hotel. 

On Sept. 19, during the group’s fourth night in Istanbul, the friends joined a salsa party at their hotel’s rooftop along with 200 other attendees.

The accident occurred as Handa moved away from the center stage to get some fresh air. 

The woman stepped on a grate, placed between the roof of the hotel and the adjacent apartment to create a makeshift bridge between the two buildings. 

However, the grate broke as soon as Handa stepped on it, causing the woman to fall from a height of 10 meters.

Police and firefighters pronounced Handa dead when they arrived on the scene of the incident.

The woman’s body was brought to the Forensic Medicine Institute as police conducted a crime scene investigation.