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Woman Dies After Fall From UN Building
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Feb 17, 5:03 PM (ET)

By JOHN HEILPRIN

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A woman who worked for the United Nations died Sunday after falling from the 19th floor of the U.N.'s Secretariat Building, authorities said.

Police and U.N. security officers at the scene, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the woman in her 40s had jumped from a window after showing up to work early in the morning.

"A U.N. agency staff member died after falling from the 19th floor of the U.N. Secretariat Building," U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. "At this time there is no suspicion of foul play."

Okabe said U.N. officials would not confirm her identity even after her next of kin were notified.

The official cause of death was to be determined by the medical examiner.

U.N. staff rushed to the scene and escorted investigators to the rear area of the building, where yellow tape was put up around the woman's body. Some U.N. staff were blocked from leaving the building just after the discovery.

In 1982, a 57-year-old senior U.N. official who had just resigned from the Office of Financial Services and was reported to have been upset about his failing health plunged to his death from the 18th floor of the Secretariat building.