‘Shining star’ student dies in shower on Paris holiday just moments after saying she was fine
5 May 2023, 17:16 | Updated: 5 May 2023, 17:28
Rhea Hourigan died suddenly in the shower of cardiac arrest just hours after sightseeing in Paris with her aunt.
Ms Hourigan, 19, was visiting her aunt in Paris when she suddenly collapsed in the shower from a cardiac arrest after a day of sightseeing.
The 19-year-old was a student at Durham university, soon to finish her first year, studying Business, Management and Marketing.
She was getting ready for bed when the teenager, who worked at a branch of Nando’s in Shirley, West Midlands, collapsed in the shower.
Speaking to the Mirror, a friend of Rhea’s mother Polly Townhill said: “She'd got in the shower and she was getting ready to go to bed.
"She'd been there for quite a long time, so her Auntie knocked to say 'Is everything all right you coming out?”
She answered “yeah, yeah, I'm on my way out” before her aunt heard a bang just moments later.
Paramedics rushed to the scene on April 29 but were unable to save her.
Her time of death was recorded at 12:45am.
“She had full travel insurance but it hasn't covered what they need,” Polly added. “There's so much red tape over there and they have to treat her death as mitigating circumstances.
"It would still be a tragedy without this, but her parents cannot see their child until the autopsy is done. They are desperate to bring her home.”
The cause of the cardiac arrest remains unknown, as Rhea did not suffer any known medical conditions and there is no record of heart failure in the family.
Her family have not been able to see their daughter since her death due to complications with travel insurance, but it is hoped she will be able to return to the UK after the autopsy has taken place next week.
Writing on Facebook, her mother Jo said of Rhea: “She had so many plans, dreams and aspirations she was our bright shining star.
"She hadn’t even finished her first year of uni which she absolutely loved up in Durham and had made so many good friends.
"Our only comfort is that she was so happy and had had such a brilliant day seeing the sights of Paris, she wouldn’t have known what had happened and didn’t suffer."
The death has also left Rhea’s best friend devastated.
Friend Dawn Buchanan has set up a GoFundMe for the family to help relieve any financial pressures they may face following her death.
The page reads: “Their friends and family wanted to reach out and help as much as they can to ease the financial burden a little with any costs they will be incurring during this devastating time and the coming weeks and months.”
