A college student in Mexico fell approximately 80 feet from a balcony while attempting to do an extreme yoga pose.
Alexa Terrazas, 23, was doing the pose over the edge of her sixth-floor apartment balcony in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon on Saturday (August 24). Midway through the pose, the 23-year-old lost her grip and fell the huge distance below, landing on the driveway of her apartment building.
An image of the student before she fell quickly went viral, showing Terrazas hanging upside down on the balcony rail while supporting her entire body weight, her head pointing down to the ground below her.
According to reports in local media outlet El Norte, as per the MailOnline, the young woman fell just after 1pm local time and paramedics rushed to the scene from the Red Cross and the Nuevo Leon Civil Protection.
She was taken to a local hospital, where she underwent 11 hours of surgery after suffering fractures to both of her legs and arms – as well as to her hips and head. As of Monday afternoon (August 26), Terrazas was listed as being in critical condition.
There is the possibility the college student, who is originally from Chihuahua and is doing a Bachelor’s degree in Wellness and Nutrition at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, will not walk for three years after doctors were forced to reconstruct her broken legs, as reported by El Imparcial.
The 23-year-old is the daughter of Alberto Terrazas Seyffert, the former president of the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry in Chihuahua, Libertad Bajo Palabra reports.
Shortly after her fall, Terrazas’ family and loved ones took to social media to ask people in the surrounding area to donate blood and pray for the injured woman. Up to 100 blood donors signed up to help the 23-year-old.
This was reportedly not the first time the college student had practised yoga on the balcony; neighbours said they were used to seeing Terrazas perform dangerous stunts such as this one on her balcony’s edge.
The Nuevo Leon Attorney General’s office opened an investigation into the structural integrity of the balcony and its rail to see if that could have been the reason behind the young woman’s fall, and found they did not have any structural damages. As such, Terrazas’ fall has been ruled an accident.
The young woman remains in hospital in critical condition. Our thoughts are with Alexa and her family as she fights to makes a full recovery.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).