A woman has died after falling from the Whispering Gallery inside St Paul’s Cathedral. She fell 98 feet from the high balcony this morning and landed on the floor of the cathedral, where she was pronounced dead at the scene around 10.30am.
St Paul’s was closed this afternoon as emergency services dealt with the incident. The death is not being treated as suspicious. In a statement, St Paul’s Cathedral said: ‘The Cathedral is deeply saddened at the death of a visitor on the morning of October 11. ‘First aid trained staff were immediately at the scene and police and paramedics arrived within minutes.
‘Although robust procedures for emergency situations are in place at St Paul’s and today’s response bore that out, it does not lessen the shock we feel as a close community, especially for those of us who witnessed and responded to this incident. We hold also in our thoughts those visitors within the Cathedral at the time. ‘We think and pray especially at this time for the woman who died, and for all those who were close to her and who loved and cared for her.’ The cathedral will remain closed for the rest of the day and the Annual National Service for Seafarers at 5pm has been cancelled. It will open as normal tomorrow, beginning with morning prayer at 7.30am.
