‘Huge Puddle’ Caused Student, 20, to Fall to Her Death from Ocean Cliffs in Front of Her Friends

The death of a 20-year-old student who fell from the Cliffs of Moher last year was ruled “accidental.”

Roxan Bastaens, a student at the University of Edinburgh, fell to her death after slipping in a “huge puddle” by the edge of the cliff in Ireland, the BBC, RTÉ and The Irish Times reported.

“Unfortunately, we have a number of deaths at the Cliffs of Moher each year, and this was an absolute accident,” coroner Isobel O’Dea told the Clare Coroner’s Court in Kilrush, County Clare during a hearing on Friday, Sept. 26.

She added that Bastaens, who was three weeks away from her 21st birthday, died as a result of polytrauma due to multiple injuries she suffered during the fall, which occurred in May 2024.

O’Dea said her death “would have been instantaneous and she wouldn’t have suffered,” according to the BBC and RTÉ.

Bastaens’ friends, who were not present at the inquest, also gave eyewitness testimonies, which were read out by Gardai (Irish police) Inspector Ronan McMahon.

Bastaens went on the hike with three female friends on May 4, 2024, after they arrived the night before the tragic incident, per The Irish Times.

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“The trail was protected at the beginning but later on it got slippery and there was no barrier,” Italian student Guilia Bracchi recalled in her statement.

Bracchi added that the conditions were fine, stating, “We all had hiking boots on. It was not difficult.”

She said that the friends were walking in single file towards a “big puddle” at around 1:00 p.m. local time.

“I had seen lots of people walking in exactly the same way before us,” she said.

Bracchi went on to say that Bastaens was carefully navigating the trail.

“She fell forward and she started tumbling down and I tried to catch her but I couldn’t. It all happened so fast,” she said. “I looked down and I saw her hit off the cliffs twice and then she then went out of sight.”

Bracchi later saw Bastaens’ body in the water, lying face down.

French student, Catherine Didier, said in her statement that she was walking in front of Bastaens.

“I walked past the puddle no problem,” she said. “I balanced and I didn’t slip – I had to be careful. When I passed the puddle I turned around and I saw Roxan slipping off the edge. I tried to lean towards her to catch her but she was too far away — I got an awful fright, I started panicking.”

She added, “I didn’t want to look over the edge.”

“We started calling people for help and we called the emergency services,” Didier said.

Student Prune Dussud recalled, “One second Roxan was there and the next she was gone.”

“At this point, I was looking down at my feet. I heard my friend Guilia gasp,” she continued. “When I looked up, I was aware that Roxan had fallen. Everything had happened so quickly. I am not sure how it happened.”

A Royal National Lifeboat Institution boat recovered Bastaens’ body at 3:10 p.m. local time, per the BBC.

Tests confirmed that neither alcohol nor drugs played a role in the incident.

Family members who traveled to hear the inquest were told they could be taken to the Cliffs of Moher but would be unable to see the exact spot where the tragedy occurred, per RTÉ. The Irish Times reported that the section of the landmark had been closed to the public since August 2024.

“Ye won’t be able to go to the exact spot as it is fenced off. It is very hard to explain to you about the height of the cliffs and the terrain there,” McMahon told them.

PEOPLE has contacted the Clare Coroner’s Court for comment. The Gardai (Irish Police) declined to give a statement.