GAETA – An inquiry has been opened after a female American soldier fell from a fourth storey balcony while partying in this southern Lazio military port, police said. The unnamed woman, aged 23, was stationed on the US navy’s Sixth Fl flagship “Mount Whitney”, which is moored in Gaeta’s harbour.

 She had been partying with other unnamed soldiers, including a 24-year-old woman and two men on Via Papa Giovanni XXIII, near the town centre. The party had started at around 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday evening, continuing until around 10 p.m. when two other soldiers went outside to take out the rubbish.

 The two soldiers found the woman unresponsive, bleeding on the doorstep, and took her upstairs to the flat before calling both the American military and Italian emergency services. When giving testimonies to the police, the American soldiers who found her said initially they “thought she had fallen coming down the stairs.”

 The woman was taken to the Dono Svizzero Formia hospital in an ambulance. On assessment, the doctors said she had suffered multiple fractures and had a high blood alcohol level.

 It is believed that the building’s multiple canopies saved the soldier’s life, breaking her fall. It is still not known how or why she fell from the balcony. Gaeta’s police are working alongside the American Military Police to reconstruct and investigate the incident.  

 The 23-year-old was transferred to Santa Maria Goretti hospital in Latina as her condition worsened. She remains in a critical condition, hospital sources said.

 khg