The best friend of a teenager who died after plunging from a balcony in Magaluf has issued a stark warning to young Scots.
Natalie Cormack, from North Ayrshire, was 19 when she was working in the Spanish holiday in April 2018.
She suffered catastrophic injuries when she lost her grip while attempting to climb from a pals’ seventh floor apartment to her own flat after losing her keys.
In the wake of her death, pal Erin Montgomery started the “Don’t leave a friend behind” campaign in a bid to raise awareness about balcony falls and young people drinking too much alcohol on holiday.
But seven years on, Erin, 25, worries that the risks are still not being taken seriously enough after 19-year-old Scots law student Emma Ramsay died when she fell from her balcony in Ibiza last August.
Speaking to the Record, Erin said: “Emma’s recent death made me worry that the new generation of young people going on holiday this summer for the very first time won’t have heard about Natalie or our campaign to highlight the risks involved.
“Young people think they are invincible but I want to get this message out there to as many of them as possible this year and try to stop someone else being killed.
“Go and have fun on holiday, but beware of the risks of alcohol and balconies and never leave any of your friends alone at night. It just takes one mistake and people are losing a loved one and many lives are changed forever.
“When I hear of incidents like Emma in Ibiza last year it just re-traumatises me and hits home that we need to keep pushing this campaign because it can’t be reaching enough people.”
Erin explained the “Don’t leave a friend behind” campaign was formed after a group of Natalie’s friends came together to raise money to bring her body home from Spain.
However, after another two young men died in similar falls in the same complex that summer, they decided to start raising awareness to try and prevent further tragedies from happening.
The group placed posters were issued around the resort’s bars and hotels. But Erin wants to push the message further afield to try and stop more needless deaths from happening.
Losing her best friend at such a young age had a profound effect on Erin and she says she will grieve for Natalie for the rest of her life.
She said: “Natalie and I were very close. We were from different towns in Ayrshire but met through mutual friends when we were 12 and really bonded with one another. I spoke to her the night before the tragedy on Facetime and I didn’t think for a second I would never see her again.
“She was the most an amazing person and I think I will always be grieving. At the moment it is really hitting home because all of our friends are moving in with their partners and having children but Natalie never got the chance to live long enough to do that.
“I just want young people to be aware of the dangers when they are on holiday because it feels like a Scottish person is dying every year.”
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