British student, 19, who jumped from plane to her death may have been 'hallucinating' on prescription drugs, devastated family claims
A Cambridge University student who plunged 3,500 feet to her death after she forced upon a plane door mid-flight was hallucinating at the time and did not intend to kill herself, according to her family.
We previously reported that Alana Cutland, 19, a second-year student of Biological Natural Sciences was in the Anjajavy region in Madagascar to study a rare species of blue crab as a part of a research trip when the tragic incident unfolded.
Cutland, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, was on a Cessna C168 aircraft with two other people on board — the pilot and Brit researcher Ruth Johnson — when, 10 minutes after takeoff, she undid her seatbelt, unlocked the right door of the plane, and tried to jump out.
Authorities said that Johnson and the pilot both desperately tried to hold onto the 19-year-old's legs for five minutes even as the plane rocked through the air, but they eventually ran out of breath, and let her go out of exhaustion.
Local police chief Sinola Nomenjahary said that Cutland had financed the trip herself and that she had suffered five "paranoia" attacks while on the island
She had reportedly been due to stay for eight weeks but cut the trip short to just eight day after speaking to her parents Alison and Neil Cutland, both 63, who advised that she come back home.
Now, her uncle Lester Riley, 68, has revealed to the Daily Mail that Cutland had been ill and that when she had spoken to her mother just two days before her death, she was "mumbling and sounded pretty incoherent."
"She was mumbling and in a really bad way and both of them were really worried because they didn't know what was wrong," he said. "She wanted to finish her trip but her mum said it was best she come home and get better, and she finally agreed to that. There was something wrong with her."
Riley said his sister had called the embassy, who had advised that Cutland see a doctor and fly back home. He revealed that the trio on the plane was heading to a town so she could go to a hospital and be treated before being declared fit to fly back home.
He ruled out the possibility of suicide. "What happened, the family believes, was a tragic accident, not a suicide and we are utterly heartbroken," he said. "Alana had everything to live for, nothing to die for, and we don't think for a moment she deliberately took her own life. She was hallucinating, she was unwell, something had made her ill, it must have been a reaction to medication."
Police in Madagascar is said to be looking into the theory that the 19-year-old suffered a severe reaction to anti-malaria drugs. It's a theory that could hold credence, as in very rare cases, medications such as Larium and Malarone have been known to cause paranoia, depression, hallucinations, and even suicidal thoughts.
Riley conceded his niece might have "suffered a severe reaction to some drugs" but ruled out the anti-malaria one as she had taken those drugs on her trip to China last year without any side effects.
Teams searching for her body fear it may not be found as Cutland fell into a zone in the remote Analalava region which is full of carnivorous Fossa felines.