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ARCHIVED - British dad dies in Spanish hotel balcony fall hours after arriving on holiday

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The UK holidaymaker was on his first ever trip abroad to Spain when tragedy struck

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - British dad dies in Spanish hotel balcony fall hours after arriving on holiday

Young father Dion Atherton tragically plunged to his death from a hotel balcony just hours after arriving in Spain for the first time. He had just made a call home telling his dad how “wonderfully warm” it was when his life was cut short.

Dion had travelled to Spain with his girlfriend Leanne for the much-anticipated trip after missing out on a holiday last year when his passport didn’t arrive on time. Now, his distraught family has launched a GoFundMe appeal to bring his body back to the UK, since the young dad didn’t have any travel insurance.

The GoFundMe reads: "The family have since discovered that, due to an oversight, there wasn't any travel insurance in place. This means that bringing Dion home has been made extremely difficult.

"Dion had settled into a wonderful life with Leanne and her two girls, and loved spending as much time as he could with his two adorable children.

"They had some great times on their visits and are really going to miss their Dad."

Sadly, Dion is far from the only British holidaymaker to die in Spain as a result of a fall from a balcony. In May last year, a 31-year-old man plummeted seven floors from his Magaluf hotel after reportedly consuming a large amount of alcohol.

And in September, a young British woman who was on holiday with her partner fell to her death from a window at the four star Hotel Bellver in the Mallorcan capital of Palma.

Last summer, the government of the Balearic Islands warned of a worrying increase in the so-called balconing trend, which involves leaping from a height into the hotel pool below, or even climbing over the apartment balcony into the room next door.

You can donate to the GoFundMe appeal to bring Dion home here.

Now read: Lanzarote tourism bosses scramble to assure they still want British holidaymakers

Image: GoFundMe

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