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New Zealand tourist dies after being hit by jet blast on Maho beach in St. Maarten

Sevenfold

Member
it seems there some concrete to separate the road from the beach. She likely hit her head on that.

S1tJUvk.png
There's footage somewhere of a girl cracking her head on the closer of the two concrete raised sections. Looked real sore. I'm surprised there aren't fatalities every day.
Edit: Same section actually. Happened in 2012.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eV21f1MZ5iU
 

ReAxion

Member
it seems there some concrete to separate the road from the beach. She likely hit her head on that.

S1tJUvk.png

that is what happened. she was clinging to the fence, with the aid of what looks like a male friend. he let go and ran away, she was blown off, lands her head right into it. it's on tmz.
 

Jenov

Member
that is what happened. she was clinging to the fence, with the aid of what looks like a male friend. he let go and ran away, she was blown off, lands her head right into it. it's on tmz.

The TMZ video is from the 2012 incident, the girl hit her head but survived.
 

okno

Member
I can't imagine that feels good in anyway.

It doesn't. I've been there a couple of times. The beach itself is nice and the water is beautiful, and there are two bars on either end. We get there around noon when the small planes land, and stick around until about 2pm to watch one of the big boys come in while we have drinks on the side. Watching the amount of people who just have NO IDEA what they're in for never gets old.
 

pixelation

Member
Huh?... i had seen pictures but all this time i thought they were 'shopped. Those gifs make it look terrifying, i'm feeling goosebumps here sitting on my couch just by looking at them.
 
I don't understand people's obsession of gathering in a place where danger is possible.

as a beach lover, I value peace foremost than anything else.

from all the miles of coastline available, why park your ass there?
 

nahlakhai

Member
I've been there before, back in early 2013. If I recall that section is banned for tourists to stand at but people still do it. This is a Darwin Award case. Maho Beach itself is quite a spectacle because of the proximity to the runway but it's hardly the best beach St Maarten/Martin have to offer.
 

Razorback

Member
I don't understand people's obsession of gathering in a place where danger is possible.

as a beach lover, I value peace foremost than anything else.

from all the miles of coastline available, why park your ass there?

Is it really a big mystery? Danger is exciting, it causes adrenaline rushes.
 
Back in 2000 a similar incident occurred. A Swiss tourist sustained injuries because of the jet blast and she sued. She argued the signs weren't enough of a preventative measure because they were too vague and in the end many tourists ignore them and flock to the beach anyway.

I believe they changed the signs from this "Warning! Low flying and departing aircraft blast can cause physical injury" to the one you posted, but I'm not sure. To me it doesn't really matter. If you are warned that standing in that location may cause physical harm, then you should not be there. It's that simple.

It's tragic but play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
 

Max_Po

Banned
this is extremely stupid and even for the people who go there for the thrill, this can't be good for your ears.

Very sad situation, she seems like a kid.
 

DrkSage

Member
it seems there some concrete to separate the road from the beach. She likely hit her head on that.

S1tJUvk.png

I saw a video a long time ago about some tourist holding themselves on the fence and a girl let go and hit that concrete side face first. The video was on that same angle. Now I can't find it

Edit: actually it's that same screen shot.
Here's the vid: (skip to 1:45)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ZecN5s0kU

Edit: jet blasted by sevenfold
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
RIP, note that she could also have died this way by tripping over a rock.
Also I have done this at that place. Not the fence tho.
 
The beach area in front of the runway, obviously.
You would still have the road there though. And they can't close that off, since it is the only road to the other side there. Or so I read. Unless you want to put some security there all day, people are going to do this.
 
It's really weird seeing such massive chunks of planes flying so low down next to randoms. That whole situation is a fuck up.

reminds me of Waynes world
 
I saw a video a long time ago about some tourist holding themselves on the fence and a girl let go and hit that concrete side face first. The video was on that same angle. Now I can't find it

Edit: actually it's that same screen shot.
Here's the vid: (skip to 1:45)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ZecN5s0kU

Edit: jet blasted by sevenfold

that is what happened. she was clinging to the fence, with the aid of what looks like a male friend. he let go and ran away, she was blown off, lands her head right into it. it's on tmz.

There's footage somewhere of a girl cracking her head on the closer of the two concrete raised sections. Looked real sore. I'm surprised there aren't fatalities every day.
Edit: Same section actually. Happened in 2012.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eV21f1MZ5iU

yeah i took a screenshot of the tmz video. Didn't want to link to tmz
 

Rival

Gold Member
I surprised this hasn't happened before. Some of those jet engines are putting out 40k lbs of thrust each. It seems incredibly stupid to stand behind that.
 

Syriel

Member
Wait, she was there out of choice? I figured this was some freak accident, not some idiotic person throwing themselves into harms way deliberately..

It's a thrill seeker thing.

Yes, you'll get blown, but if you're on the beach itself there's hardly a big risk so long as you're looking away.
 

DBT85

Member
actually baffling to me that you're even allowed that close.

How much damage can a well placed tennis ball do to a jet engine on landing anyway?
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
actually baffling to me that you're even allowed that close.

How much damage can a well placed tennis ball do to a jet engine on landing anyway?

Not that much damage considering that it's practically at the beginning of the touch down. Even if it would lose one engine it's too late to matter.
 

Syriel

Member
actually baffling to me that you're even allowed that close.

How much damage can a well placed tennis ball do to a jet engine on landing anyway?

Puts the Air Canada SFO incident in perspective.

That plane was 30 meters (98 feet) when it flew over the United plane on the taxiway.

Looks like these planes aren't far off that when they are overwater right before the beach.
 
actually baffling to me that you're even allowed that close.

How much damage can a well placed tennis ball do to a jet engine on landing anyway?

Maybe an expensive repair. Unlikely to bring it down at all, engines are built to digest birds (but not too many).
 

wilsonda

Member
Rip to her and thoughts with the family. That being said... you do a dangerous activity, you have to accept the consequences..
 

low-G

Member
This situation is fucking stupid. How is this even a thing? Beach should be closed.

"Hey guys lets go stand in front a jet engine's blast and get fucking thrashed around by it."

How can this possibly sound like a good idea? Only a fucking idiot...

Future thrillseekers will see how close they can get to the intakes of jet engines at Donald Trump Airport.
 

Stasis

Member
I've seen the videos of this beach and I want nothing to do with it. I know what jet blast can do. I get the novelty of it and how exciting it must be, but fuck...

I'd also not be a huge fan of the pilots having to come in to land so close to people. I'm sure a bunch of them dislike it.
 

zeshakag

Member
Unfortunately there is no way to stop all idiots from getting themselves killed in some stupid manner.

God forbid we have one place in the entire world where people can do this, even if just one idiot died.

I think it's alright if we let this one thing slide without getting legislated, litigated and red taped to shit.
 

dejay

Banned
She saw the signs, she knew there was a risk. Facing risk and managing it is fun. Probably best not to stand in a massive air stream with a hard surface behind you, but that's just me. People over estimate their own strength and under estimate the forces they're dealing with.

The island knows that it's dangerous but also knows that it's a tourist attraction. Make it safe, less money. But if people want to go somewhere to take a risk, let them.
 

okno

Member
For everyone saying to shut it down: the woman was standing in a spot where shouldn't have been standing and, thus, flouted all rules of the area. This beach has been operational for a very, very long time with very few instances. This is an instance of a dumbass being a dumbass.
 
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