Flight attendant, 24, dies after 33ft balcony fall as police refuse to rule out foul play

A flight attendant has died after falling from her third-floor balcony in mysterious circumstances.

Aurora Maniscalco was at home with her boyfriend when she plunged around 33 feet to the ground below. The police have not ruled out foul play in the 24-year-old's tragic death. Aurora, who came from Palermo, Italy, fell from the balcony at her home in the Austrian capital Vienna.

She succumbed to her injuries in hospital two days later, as reported by NeedToKnow. According to the police, she was at home with her 27-year-old partner, also from Palermo, when she fell from the balcony.

The boyfriend, reportedly called Elio Bargione, was the one who called the emergency services. Aurora worked for Lauda Europe, a Maltese low-cost airline that operates on behalf of parent company Ryanair.

The authorities said her partner is a flight attendant for another airline. Investigators are checking the victim’s phone and devices and are awaiting the results of an autopsy, requested by her family, to piece together the circumstances leading up to her fatal fall.

Their lawyer Alberto Raffadale said: “We have filed two complaints, one with the prosecutor's office in Vienna and one with the Palermo prosecutor's office.” The accident happened on the night of June 21 and the investigation is ongoing.

Giada Cucina told Il Giornale de Italia that she did not believe the two theories that it was either an accident or she tried to kill herself. "She didn't want to kill herself, she was dreaming of a new job as a volunteer at an animal shelter," she said.

Meanwhile, a British Airways flight attendant was discovered dead in his hotel room during an American stopover. Concern was raised for Irfan Ali Mirza when the 45-year-old man failed to report for duty after staying at the crew hotel in San Francisco, in April. He had arrived there on a flight from London Heathrow and had a two-day layover before the return journey.

Hotel managers eventually unlocked Irfan's room where they found the father of three dead on the bed. Police said the responding officers' investigation of the scene "did not discover any evidence of foul play" and the body was taken by the medical examiner.

It is believed Mirza, from London, had worked in the industry for more than 20 years. Colleagues and relatives expressed their sadness on social media.

Irfan's brother Kamran Mirza wrote online: "Cannot express how hard it is that Irfan left his parents, us three siblings and his wife and three young children behind. It's totally heartbreaking... It has really shocked me and the rest of the family that Irfan is not with us anymore. Cannot express what we are going through right now."