A student was killed when he crashed through a fifth-floor hotel window during a forfeit for losing a game of cards on holiday in Majorca.

Mark Day, 20, was dared to strip to his socks and underpants and run along the corridor after losing a game of poker with two friends from the University of Essex.

The second-year student failed to stop at the end of the passage, smashed through a window and plummeted more than 40 feet. Paramedics attempted to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police were trying yesterday to contact Mr Day’s parents, who are believed to be on holiday.

Mr Day, a business and finance student and captain of the university men’s badminton team, is believed to have been drinking. He and his friends had organised a holiday in Magalluf, the Majorcan town popular with young people, for after the end of term. They were sharing a room in the 11-storey Majorca Beach Hotel, which caters mainly for British tourists.

His friends, Marc Smart, 18, and Steve Kimberley, 19, were helping the Spanish police last night to piece together what happened. A source said: “The dead man had been playing cards with friends and the forfeit for losing was to run along the hotel corridor in his underwear to a window at the end. We are not clear yet whether he slipped because he lost his balance as he ran with just his socks on or whether he was running too fast and couldn’t stop in time. But he didn’t stop in time and he crashed through the window and fell more than 40 feet.”

Police do not believe that the circumstances of the accident, which happened just after 8pm on Sunday, are suspicious and an investigating judge is conducting a routine inquiry.

Mr Smart, who played in the university badminton team with Mr Day, and Mr Kimberley have been moved to another hotel. The death of Mr Day, from Braintree, Essex, is one of a series of similar accidents in Majorca. An 18-year-old holidaymaker was seriously injured last Monday after falling from his fifth-floor hotel balcony in Magalluf.

Another teenager was injured after falling from his apartment in Alcúdia last month.

Times Recommends

• Rio Tinto four held as China prepares case
• Diplomats must keep heads down and trousers up
• When in Rome should one make like Berlusconi?