Madelaine Crawley:Aussie woman dies on Italy Contiki tour

Madelaine Crawley 23

The woman - named by Italian police as Madeleine Rae Crawley, 24 - arrived at San Pietro Hospital, north of Rome, at dawn yesterday but died of cardiac arrest in the emergency department, the Herald Sun reported.
Her female friend, who is yet to be named but is also from Australia and believed to be in her 20s, was in a serious condition after her stomach was pumped.
The women had been in Italy for a week on a Contiki tour with 50 backpackers and were staying at the Seven Hills campsite, north of central Rome.
The group of mainly young Australian backpackers had been celebrating their last night in Rome.
The women allegedly consumed drugs and alcohol.
The campsite manager said the group partied at the local disco before returning to their dorms in the early hours of the morning.
"I'm sorry for the misfortune that has struck the girl and her family, but we have never had a drug party at our camp," Toni Altobelli told Italian newspaper Corriere.
"The camp has a normal disco nightclub, which closes at 1am. At that time we went away and the girls went back to their dorms.
"What happened then, I do not know."
Like tens of thousands of other 20-something Australians before her Ms Crawley, reportedly from Tweed Heads in NSW had signed up for a Contiki tour to visit the countries she had only dreamed about while growing up in the quiet rural enclave of Cudgera Creek, near Pottsville.
But instead of waiting to hear of Madelaine's travel adventures, the tight-knit Crawley family are instead mourning her death.
Her uncle Bruce Melville yesterday said the family was struggling to come to terms with the loss of the outgoing, free-spirited girl.
"It was her first big trip overseas and she was so excited about it," he said.
"This was a huge thing for her and it was going to be the adventure of a lifetime."
A spokeswoman from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said consular officials from the Australian Embassy in Rome were working closely with local authorities and the tour company.
There were reports in Italian media her death could have been caused by a deadly cocktail of alcohol and anti-depression drugs, but family and friends find it hard to accept drugs may have played a part in Madelaine's death.
"She was never that way inclined," Mr Melville said.
"She was a fun-loving young woman who loved the outdoors.
"She was just a beautiful girl.
"No one really knows what happened over there."
Her colleagues at the Tweed Coast resort Peppers, where she had worked in the reservations department for four years, were shocked by her death.


"She drank too much and felt sick, and during the night she fainted in her bathroom and was found in the morning," the receptionist said.


"Her friend said she had mixed a lot of spirits, like tequila. We found the antidepressants -- she wasn't depressed, but her friend said she was scared of flying and wanted to sleep on the plane."






Rome police have ordered an autopsy, but Italian media reports said the Tweed Heads woman died of a heart attack soon after being taken to hospital.


Another Australian tourist on the tour, a 29-year-old woman from NSW, also had to be taken to the hospital emergency ward and was recovering yesterday after having had her stomach pumped.


Ms Crawley's uncle, Bruce Melville, yesterday disputed the Italian news reports, saying it was out of character for his niece to get so drunk.


"That sort of thing is just totally out of character," he told Nine Network. He described her as "a very lovable girl, just starting to bloom in life".


Mr Melville said the family was trying to have her body brought back to Australia as soon as possible for an autopsy.


Contiki said the tour group had continued to Venice.


The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday said officials from the Australian embassy in Rome were working closely with Contiki and Roman authorities.