Man's skiing accident death contributed to by underlying myocarditis after Covid-19 infection

The death of a 22-year-old following a skiing accident was contributed to by an underlying condition that was possibly caused by Covid-19 infection, Suffolk Coroner's Court has heard.

David Orrell, who was described in an inquest today as a 'confident skier', died on the morning of March 20, 2022, at the Les Allues ski resort in France where he was holidaying with his friend, Finley.

Three weeks before the holiday, David had been diagnosed with Covid-19, which he took two weeks to get over.

The pair had been skiing a blue run, suitable for intermediate skiers, towards the village of Méribel when David, who was about 10 seconds ahead of Finley, disappeared from his view.

Finley found David unconscious, lying off-piste at a junction around 2 metres from a padded sign post. Despite resuscitation attempts and the arrival of mountain rescue and paramedic crews, David had suffered severe head and chest injuries and was declared dead at 10.20am.

During an inquest today at Suffolk Coroner's Court, a statement from Finley revealed the pair had taken the first lift up the mountain at 9am that morning, and the accident took place at around 9.30am.

He said: "We weren't going crazy, we weren't racing and we weren't taking risks."

The court heard that it was the first accident on that part of the slope that the emergency services called to the scene had ever seen.

Coroner Nigel Parsley found that the fact that David was a strong skier and was on a relatively easy run, the fact that the conditions were good as well as the fact that there were no defects to his equipment meant it was likely something else contributed to his death.

While toxicology reports came back negative, meaning David had no alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of his death, histology investigations found evidence of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, caused by recently active viral infection.

Mr Parsley found David died of severe head and chest injuries as a result of a skiing collision, contributed to by his Covid-19 infection and subsequent myocarditis.

He recorded a narrative conclusion that David died as a result of accidental death, contributed to by underlying an medical condition.

He passed his condolences to David's parents, who were present in court, and called the death 'tragic'.