Tourist falls 64ft from Cape Tribulation viewing platform

A 24-year-old British tourist was fighting for her life in an Australian hospital today after falling from a 65ft rainforest viewing platform.

The woman, whose identity was not released, fell off the platform on Saturday at Cape Tribulation, a world-renowned region of pristine rain forest in north-eastern Australia.

She was airlifted to a hospital in the tourist city of Cairns before being transferred by air to the larger Townsville General Hospital where she was in a critical condition today.

A police spokeswoman said the injured woman’s parents have flown from Britain to be with her.

Queensland police and workplace safety officials were investigating how the woman fell from the platform.

A spokesman said that at the time of the accident, the tourist was preparing to go on a “Flying Fox” tree canopy adventure ride, where participants are hooked into a harness and glide across a rope connected between two points.

“It appears the woman was preparing to go on the Flying Fox ride but we haven’t established yet whether she was actually on it when she fell,” he said.