Man dies after falling from 16th floor in Vancouver's Yaletown

A young man has died after falling from the 16th floor of a Yaletown apartment block on Smithe Street in Vancouver overnight on Sunday.

According to Vancouver Police Sgt. Jason Robillard, officers received a 9-1-1 call from an area of Smithe Street near Pacific Boulevard just after midnight.

Upon arrival, Robillard said in a release, police officers and the BC Ambulance Service found a man, who had died of injuries suffered during a fall.

Police did not consider the man’s death suspicious, and turned the investigation into what happened over to the BC Coroners Service.

Barb McClintock with the BC Coroners Service told Daily Hive the man was in his 20s, and had been playing a game with a friend in and around a suite in Yaletown.

The young man ended up on a balcony ledge on the 16th floor of a building on Smithe Street, said McClintock in an email, and unfortunately fell, suffering fatal injuries.

“[There is] no suggestion this was anything other than a tragic accident,” said McLintock.

Some reports have suggested the man was chasing after a ping pong ball, or that he and his friend had been playing beer pong.

However, McClintock told Daily Hive the man wasn’t playing beer pong and she doesn’t believe he was chasing a ping pong ball.

Nevertheless, she said, the question of alcohol intake remains part of the ongoing investigation, which is still in its preliminary stages.