The family of a Cambridge University student who died after opening the door to a small plane mid-flight is calling for an investigation, as they reportedly believe she had an adverse reaction to some type of drug prior to her fall from the small aircraft, which appears to have been intentional.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, 19-year-old Alana Cutland had been on a planned six-week research trip to Madagascar, reportedly to study a rare species of crab, that she abruptly cut short roughly two weeks into the trip. Her parents reportedly rented a plane to take her to an international airport where she would then travel back to the UK. But just minutes after takeoff, Cutland opened the door to the small aircraft and eventually leapt out, despite a passenger and the pilot’s desperate efforts to keep her inside the plane.

Cutland’s uncle Lester Riley told the Daily Mail that Cutland’s parents became concerned about her health and well-being during a phone call two days before her death.

“She had taken ill after being there for a few days and when she spoke to her mother on the phone two days before the accident she was mumbling and sounded pretty incoherent. ” Riley reportedly said.

“We think she had suffered a severe reaction to some drugs but not anti-malaria ones because she had taken those on her trip last year to China without any side effects.”

According to the Sun, an unnamed friend of the young woman said that she called her mother just before the plane took off, and mumbled the words, “me, plane, home.”

“Her last phone call to her mum wasn’t like her at all. It didn’t make sense,” the friend told the Sun. “She wasn’t in the right frame of mind and it was unlike any normal conversation she would have had.”

The Guardian reports that authorities in Madagascar are investigating the possibility that Cutland had a bad reaction to some type of medication.

According to the report, the student had experienced multiple panic attacks while she was in the island country, which is off the eastern coast of southern Africa. The report also indicates that Cutland was set to receive a medial evaluation before she boarded a flight back to the UK.

Mahefa Tahina Rantoanina, the plane’s pilot, reportedly told the Sun that Cutland had a headache when she boarded the plane, and remained completely silent as the desperate passenger and the pilot tried to keep her from falling out after she opened the door.

“But for the whole time Alana did not say a word – she just struggled with us,” Rantoanina told the Sun. “I have no idea why she opened the door but she did. She opened the door and she jumped. The door did not open itself.”

Cutland’s uncle told the Daily Mail that the family does not believe Cutland would have willingly taken her own life.

“What happened, the family believe, was a tragic accident, not a suicide, and we are utterly heartbroken. Alana had everything to live for, nothing to die for, and we don’t think for a moment she deliberately took her own life,” Riley reportedly said.

“She was hallucinating, she was unwell, something had made her ill, it must have been a reaction to medication.”

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