A RETIRED doctor had been taking a family photo at Surprise View in Keswick before she stumbled over the edge and died, an inquest heard.  

Dr Banashree Jana, 73, from India, had been on holiday with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchild, when the tragic incident happened on August 26 last year.

An inquest held at Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard that the family had been staying at a holiday cottage in Alston and had visited the Lake District beauty spot on the day of Dr Jana’s death.

Her son Bhaskar Jana, said they had arrived at Surprise View at around 5.45pm and he had handed his camera to a stranger and asked her to take a photo.

Mr Jana said while he had gone over a rocky path to get his camera back from the female, his mother had gone round the side of it.

He said he saw her feet go up from the ground and she fell backwards. He called 999 and said he could hear his mother crying in pain for 15 minutes afterwards.

Dr Jana said she was on the rocks and Mr Jana told her that help was coming. He then drove to the base of the cliff to see if he could get to her.

The air ambulance had then arrived on the scene.

Mr Jana said he felt the viewpoint should have a warning sign to prevent anything like this happening in the future.

A statement read to the inquest from Dr Jana’s daughter-in-law, Indrani Bhattacharya, said: “It happened so quickly, I couldn’t grab her.

“I couldn’t believe what had happened. I was calling to her, asking where she was. She said she was stuck and looking down.

“I was shouting to her for about 15 minutes. My mother-in-law stopped responding to me shouting to her.”

A statement from Rachel Doone, said she had been at Surprise View when a man approached her and asked if she’d take a photo.

She said after taking the photo, they walked towards her and told their child to say ‘thank you’.

Ms Doone said she then heard a noise which she could only describe as “sliding”. She said the elderly woman was no longer standing at the edge.

She said there was no scream and she could just hear the sliding noise. She said the elderly woman had been wearing a sari.

The mountain rescue team arrived around 20 minutes later.

A statement from Paul Barnes of the mountain rescue team, who was called to the incident, said it was busy and there were lots of tourists.

He said it was difficult to get to where she was due to loose rocks.

It was estimated that she had fallen around 15 to 20m initially and then a further 20 to 30m down the slope.

A doctor who attended the scene with the air ambulance said the patient was examined but she had died.

A post-mortem report revealed that Dr Jana had fractured her sternum, ribs and had a head injury. She also had a significant fracture to the spine and pelvis.

Coroner Robert Cohen gave the cause of death as multiple injuries and concluded that Dr Jana’s death was accidental.

Mr Cohen said: “It should have been a lovely occasion with a wonderful photo taken with family but it ended tragically.”