http://www.smh.com.au/tra...-f00c.html

Tragedy on the Tiber: 'very drunk' Aussie dies after pub crawl
Daniel Hurst
August 27, 2009 - 11:40AM

A young Australian tourist found dead in a river in Rome had been "very, very drunk" and skylarking on a bridge during a pub crawl in the hours before his death, the event organiser says.

The body of Queenslander Jason Scorer, 20, was found in the Tiber River at 9.45am on Wednesday local time after he apparently fell from a bridge.

Spanish Steps Pub Crawl organiser Dimiter Tzonev confirmed this morning that Mr Scorer was among 80 people to take part in one of the popular backpacker events on Tuesday night.

Mr Tzonev said he believed the death, which happened after the pub crawl finished, was an accident.

He said that, earlier in the night, Mr Scorer had to be persuaded to come down from the edge of another bridge while the group were walking to the final club.

"He was walking on the edge of another bridge an hour before we ended up at the club," Mr Tzonev told brisbanetimes.com.au.

"He was not very helpful when they tried to assist him, telling him to not walk on the ledge.

"He said: 'No worries man, I know what I'm doing, don't worry about me.'"

Mr Tzonev said the pub crawl group arrived at the final club, Apocalypse, near the river, about 1am. Mr Scorer did not enter the club but was seen by staff members outside it, he said.

At the pub crawl's first stop, Mr Scorer had reportedly won a beer-chugging competition.

"He was very, very drunk from what I heard," Mr Tzonev said.

It is understood Mr Scorer was travelling with another Queensland man and they were planning to travel to London within a week. His family declined to comment this morning.

Mr Tzonev said police interrogated him for more than five hours after the discovery of the body. Officials also questioned other staff members about the death.

"It's pretty devastating," he said. "We've never had a death on our party, and I've been running this for 5½ years."

The Spanish Steps website says its staff members take up to 120 people at a time on their pub crawl.

"There are two main conditions we require from our customers when they join us - speak a bit of English and like drinking," the site says.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed the death happened in Rome's Trastevere district and said consular officials were working with police, friends and family.

"We don't know the cause of death, whether it was an accident or not," he said.

The body was identified by papers found in his wallet, media reports said.

Italy has been scrambling to tackle a growing binge-drinking problem. A government study said two-thirds of teens between 13 and 15 drink to excess, with the number of diagnosed alcoholics tripling in the past decade to 60,000 out of 60 million.

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Imago said:

Seriously, we need to get a new national hobby over here. Drinking just ain't cutting it.

didn't Australia have a prime minister who went for a swim in the sea and was never seen again? maybe it was the Kiwis. that's what this article makes me think of for some reason...

And they wonder why Australians have a bad name...

Australians have a bad name...
do they think yes?
I don't have that idea; I won't say anything else; the image is worth a thousand words!


[Edited 8/27/09 6:03am]

whistle said:

http://www.stonnington.vi...centre.asp
they named a pool after him, ironically

ZombieKitten said:

the politicians' irony is same all over the world
they are not them that define the name of the autochthonous culture
and for me the Australians have a good name!!!!

ZombieKitten said:

harsh! but funny...

Austrailians have a bad name?? I didn't know that.

ingamilo said:

What's wrong with the Image The Aborigines were there first am I correct? Like the Indians in America. You must be WHITE.

There are far worse in this world than a bunch of drunken Aussies!

Dayclear said:

no.. no
you don't understand wath i wanted to say
for me the Australians don't have bad name; the image illustrates what is the purest in the austraulia for me, and the one that I associate; I didn said that the Australians have bad name... >i love Aborigines!
>and Australianos!
maybe you need to read better or then, I must learn English; but I don't have patience... it will be like this
[Edited 8/27/09 15:12pm]

chocolatehandles said:

This is true. But being Australian myself, this kind of stuff is embarrassing to me.

You hear things like this more often than say: "Australian dies in horrific accident as science experiment to discover the meaning of life goes horribly wrong"

It's always "Aussie dies because is pissed and stupid"

I feel bad for the kid and his family though

Dayclear said:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/...-policies/
we can't get it right

ZombieKitten said:

I'll never forgive Howard for abolishing ATSIC. He was such a dickead of a Prime Minister.

I've been reading the history of my new town since I moved in. Directly out the front of my house there is a valley called simply "The Gully"

http://www.austlii.edu.au...07/25.html

What isn't said in this little article above is that many of the former Aboriginal residents of the Gully were there simply because they could not afford nor were welcome in the town because it was a fashionable resort for Sydneysiders to get away from the summer heat.

Imagine having your home taken away from you so rich white fuckers could have a racetrack. Thank god it went bust and at least some attempt is being made....

>political, institutions, idiots, racists, drunks, exist in all of the nations
>thank you for the information!

Anyway, I remember Australia everyday: I am a follower of Bush Flowers; That yes it's a good thing to publish.

EiH, Dayclear: please don't think that I am to defend Bush... OK?

ingamilo said:

Having spent some time in Australia....i feckin love em.
Loved Melbourne