Australian tourist falls to death in Guwahati hotel

According to the police, William Marinus checked into Hotel Lilawati Grand in the busy Paltan Bazar area of the city on Saturday evening.

An Australian tourist fell to his death in a Guwahati hotel on Saturday night, the police said on Sunday.

(Reuters/Representative photo)

According to the police, William Marinus checked into Hotel Lilawati Grand in the busy Paltan Bazar area of the city on Saturday evening. There were five others in the group, including his brother.

The police said the group, which had just returned to Guwahati after a cycling trip to Shillong, booked six rooms in the hotel. While Marinus was staying in a room on the third floor, others in the group were on the fifth floor of the hotel.

“Around 8.30 pm they started to have drinks in one of the rooms on the fifth floor,” said Ranjan Bhuiyan, deputy commissioner of police, Guwahati.

At around 11.20 pm, he slipped from the staircase on the fifth floor. “He stepped out for a smoke and suddenly others in the room heard a noise to find Marinus on the ground floor, in front of the reception counter,” said Bhuiyan, adding that the man seems to have slipped and tripped over the railing of the stair case.

The Guwahati Police said he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced brought dead. Marinus was cremated in Guwahati after the family requested that they did not want to fly back the body to Australia, the police said.

“The brother and the guide who was part of the group stayed back for the cremation while three others left for Australia,” said Bhuiyan.