MO
Dubai
A lovesick woman committed suicide by jumping from the 148th floor of the world’s tallest building - the Burj Khalifa in Dubai - after a relationship with a wealthy businessman apparently turned sour.
The death of Laura Vanessa Nunes, 39, in November last year has gone unreported in the autocratic Emirate, where public information is tightly controlled.
And her devastated mother has claimed that Emaar, the property group behind the 2,700ft high Burj Khalifa, has refused to return repeated requests for information about the tragedy.
Leona Sykes, from South Africa, travelled to Dubai to seek answers because she can’t believe how easily her daughter was able to leap from the major tourist attraction with supposed modern safety features.
She convinced Dubai police to show her the CCTV taken from the observation deck, despite the harrowing nature of the footage.
According to Ms Sykes, the video shows Ms Nunes walk towards the viewing platform’s glass security panels and put her head through a small gap designed to allow tourists to look out and take photographs.
She then rushes to the back of the observation deck, apparently in fear. ‘I think she got a fright when she looked down.
 She was a panicky terrified young woman,’ said a distraught Ms Sykes. ‘She walked back to the pane of glass, turned around and looked up, maybe to get strength or to make a prayer.