A 'remarkable' young businessman died suddenly when he fell into the River Thames while on a FaceTime call with his girlfriend, an inquest heard.
James East, from Swansea in South Wales, hit his head on the base of Kingston Bridge in West London after speaking with his girlfriend, Bella, on a video call after a night out.
He was later spotted 'face-down' in the water.
Emergency services desperately tried to save the 25-year-old, who was transferred to Kingston Hospital in the early hours of September 25 last year, but doctors were unable to resuscitate him.
An inquest into the 'remarkable' business development executive's death heard he was due to run the London Marathon exactly a week from the day of his sudden death.
On Tuesday, Assistant Coroner Anton van Dellen concluded his death had been a 'tragic' accident and insisted he had not meant to take his own life.
On the evening in question James had been on a night out with his girlfriend, Arabella Ashfield, to celebrate her sister's eighteenth birthday.
West London Coroners Court heard the group had gone to nightclub Pryzm in Kingston before leaving in the early hours to take a pre-booked taxi home.
But James became detached from the rest of the group, and called his girlfriend on FaceTime.
He later turned on his phone camera and leaned his mobile against a light on Kingston Bridge, sitting with his back to the water.
Miss Ashfield, who had been with James for around a year-and-a-half, told the inquest that moments later she heard a 'splash' and 'screamed'.
In a statement read to the inquest, she said: "His phone was switched to video call. I remember the image being close to his face.
"He was crying, and I think this was due to his feeling bad as we were waiting for him.
"He said, 'I'm sorry' and leaned back in a purposeful way, and I heard a splash.
"I screamed and said to [my sister's boyfriend] Matthew, 'we need to get there now'."
A huge search operation involving police, fire and ambulance services as well as the RNLI began after she reported what had happened.
At around 4am approximately 15 minutes after the search began, emergency services spotted two white objects in the water directly below the area of the bridge, where James's mobile was found along with a clear bag of white powder.
A statement from PC Jeremy Ashmore shared that officers at the scene were "able to make out the shape of a person in the water" and that the two white objects were his trainers.
He added: "I was aware that James had an injury to his head, and there was blood on the floor."
"I could see that the bridge broadens with a ledge, which it is believed James struck whilst falling."
Emergency services tried in vain to resuscitate James, taking turns giving him CPR and using a defibrillator on him.
He was later taken to Kingston Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 7am on September 25.
The inquest heard James's mother, Sarah East, had received a phone call in the early hours explaining her son had been involved in an incident, and began the 'distressing' journey from Swansea to London shortly after.
She had spoken to him only the day before when he seemed in good spirits, but never again saw her son alive.
Describing her son in a statement, Ms East said her son had been 'passionate' about football, and moved to London to study finance and economics at London South Bank University.
He later got a job as a business development executive and also met his partner in the capital.
Despite Miss Ashfield suggesting James may have deliberately jumped into the river and had 'underestimated' how high the fall was, Dr van Dellen concluded his death was accidental.
He added it was 'not unusual' for young people like James to accidentally fall into the Thames and lose their life.
He said: "It is very clear, in my view, that this was an accident that occurred very momentarily.
"James would have lost consciousness immediately and would not have felt anything at all in the river.
"It is very clear to me that no more could have been done for him, either on the scene or in hospital.
"James was clearly quite a remarkable young man.
"I don't underestimate how distressing it was for James' girlfriend or his parents in Swansea, to have been woken in the middle of the night to the news that no parent wishes to hear."
