A 33-year-old Belgian model fell almost 100 feet to her death while posing for photographs on a cliff. Zoe Snoeks from Limburg in Belgium, was holidaying with her husband when the incident happened on Tuesday. Interestingly, Snoeks' Instagram account is flooded with photos of her posing on the edge of cliffs.
According to the public prosecutor's office in Luxembourg Province, Snoeks slipped off a steep cliff in Nadrin in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium, and then fell into the Ourthe River. Police is investigating the incident but doesn't suspect any foul play.
Tragic Death
Snoeks' grieving husband Joeri Janssen, who she had married in 2012, said that they had left for a trip on Sunday in their campervan. The two were also accompanied by their dogs. On Tuesday, the couple had gone sightseeing when Snoeks was taking photos of the Herou, a 1,400-metre-high rock face, near the village of Nadrin when she fell.
According to the Mirror, Snoeks had asked her husband to keep a check on the dogs and as he turned his back for less than five seconds she had fallen by that time. The incident happened around 9 am.
After the fatal fall, the fitness model landed in the Ourthe River. Her body was recovered by a team of rescuers that included police, firefighters, scuba divers and members of the Groupe de Recherche et d'Intervention en Milieu Perilleux, or Perilous Environment Reconnaissance and Intervention Group.
"Since the pandemic, it was our little thing to drive across Europe in our van and take beautiful photos," said her husband.
"It must have happened in less than five seconds," he said adding, "I didn't see or hear anything. No rustling, no screams or shouts. I looked up and saw only dust. I called her, even though I knew it was hopeless. The chasm was several tens of meters deep."
Holiday Gone Wrong
Following the mishap, Janssen said that he called for help but things got delayed because language became a barrier in the communication. "I immediately called the emergency services, but had almost no network. They didn't understand me, even though I speak a little French," he said.
He then rushed to the nearby Le Belvedere Hotel to seek help who finally contacted and arranged for the rescue team. "The rescue team could not find Zoe immediately, they said in French. Then they told me that unfortunately Zoe was dead, also in French, but I immediately understood what they meant," he said.
"Taking photos was her passion. I immediately unlocked her phone and saw that she had taken a photo on the cliff edge. Her very last selfie," Janssen said.
"Zoe is looking straight ahead. You can also see the mist and the river where they finally found her body," he added.
A post has since been put up on Zoe's Facebook account detailing where people can go to pay tribute to her. However, police have still launched an investigation but is yet to share further details.
