Nigerian Born Italian women's volleyball player Julia Ituma died early Thursday after falling from the sixth floor of the hotel where she was staying in Istanbul, Tükiye.
Ituma apparently fell from her sixth-floor room and police is investigating the incident.
The 19-year-old was a member of the Italian volleyball team Igor Gorgonzola Novara and a teammate of Turkish national volleyball player Ebrar Karakurt.
Novara faced Eczacıbaşı Dynavit in the Champions League semifinal the night before her death. Eczacıbaşı won 3-0 in the second leg of the match, making it to the final.
After the game, the Italian team returned to their hotel near the Burhan Felek Sports Hall at Istanbul's Üsküdar district.
Ituma was later found lying motionless in front of the hotel at around 5:30 a.m. Medical teams determined that she had died, and police and paramedics were called to the scene.
According to the police Ituma, a Nigerian-born Italian citizen, had been staying on the sixth floor of the hotel and fell from the window of her room, which she shared with Spanish teammate Lucia Varela Gomez.
Footage from the hotel's cameras showed Ituma had left her room at approximately 10:49 p.m. and spoke on the phone, before sitting in front of her room for an hour. No one else was seen entering the room.
Her death came as a shock to the Italian team and the players, including Karakurt, who was visibly upset in front of the hotel.
Ituma's body was sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute to determine the exact cause of death after the prosecutor's examined of the scene.
Police has launched a large-scale investigation into the incident.
SOURCE: DAILY SABAH