THE Wirral woman who died in the Taiwanese earthquake fell four storeys to the ground, an inquest heard.

Lynne Marguerite McGinty, aged 49, from Wallasey, died while trying to escape from her flat in Tsao Tun, Nantou County, after the first series of tremors.

The earthquake struck Taiwan in the early hours of September 21 and the inquest heard that Ms McGinty was asleep in bed with her American partner Nathan Miller. The couple lived on the fourth floor of a 13-storey block of flats.

Mr Miller told Coroner's Officer Det Sgt Richard Jackson that they had been in bed when the most severe of the tremors occurred. They tried to get out through the door but it was jammed.

Mr Miller then decided to get out via the balcony of the flat. A rope and harness was provided at the block of flats for each balcony and he used it to climb down to the balcony below, planning to open their flat door from the outside.

He climbed down, but his path to their flat was blocked, so he climbed down to the ground floor. Ms McGinty tried to follow him but fell and hit her head on a low wall.

The earthquake claimed more than 2,000 lives and measured more than 7.6 on the Richter scale, with the first tremors lasting about 20 minutes.

Divorcee Ms McGinty had only been in Taiwan since August and was due to return to England in December. She had previously worked as a teacher, lawyer and actress in Britain, America and China.

Wirral Coroner Christopher Johnson recorded a verdict that Ms McGinty died of injuries sustained as a result of an earthquake in Nantou County, Taiwan.

Ms McGinty's funeral was due to be held yesterday (Tuesday) at Landican.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.