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One Down...Several Million to Go!
This is for you Schuey!! :non: I can hear Van Halen in the background!
EIFFEL TERROR: SNAP CATCHES DEATH LEAP
Jun 6 2003
EXCLUSIVE
By Patrick Mulchrone
A MAN leaps to his death from the Eiffel Tower - as beneath him a girl takes a picture of her lover who is about to propose to her.
Joanne Bean, 24, snapped boyfriend Tony McElwee moments before he planned to ask her to marry him at the top of the 990ft Paris landmark.
He had to postpone his romantic gesture because the tower was closed after the tragedy.
And it was only after the couple's photos were developed that they discovered their innocent picture of private bliss had also captured a stranger's private hell.
Driven by unknown anguish too great to bear the suicide victim, a Frenchman in his 50s, jumped 150ft from the first stage of the tower. He died instantly.
Tony, 22, said: "We'd just arrived in Paris and decided to take a stroll as our hotel wasn't far from the Eiffel. I asked Joanne to take a picture of me in front of the tower. Then we crossed the road to find people all round the suicide's body.
"Joanne actually said 'Imagine if he's in the photo'. But we didn't think much more about it as it seemed so unlikely.
"Even after we got back when I looked at the photos I didn't see the man falling in the background.
"It was only when Joanne took a closer look that we realised. The odds of getting something like that on film must be a million to one.
"The man obviously launched himself off the tower. There are only a few places where you can climb over the rails. He didn't jump straight down. He was way out on the side."
Joanne, of Middlesbrough, said: "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I took a picture of Tony in front of the tower the day we arrived.
"But when we tried to go up, we were told someone had jumped off and it was closed. We could even see the man's body covered up nearby. When we saw the photos it was obvious what was going on behind Tony. But I didn't see it at the time."
The tragedy dashed Tony's hopes that day of proposing to Joanne at the top of the tower.
But he carried out his plan on her 24th birthday days later, going down on bended knee and popping the question in French.
Joanne said: "I didn't know what he was saying. But he was offering me a small box and people were clapping, so I had my suspicions.
"Of course I said 'yes'. Then we went for dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. It was the happiest day of my life, despite what had happened before.
"I can't help thinking that whenever anyone asks me where Tony proposed, I'll tell them 'You'll never guess what happened'. It's so sad."
Medical worker Joanne will marry plater Tony next year. She added: "He never gave the game away despite us being unable to get up the tower first time. He kept his cool until we went back."
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