16-Year-Old Student Falls to her Death at Robotics Competition in Panama

A robotics competition in Panama ended in heartbreak. A sixteen-year-old Bahamian student, Madeline Thompson from St. Augustine’s College, tragically fell to her death during the event. She was attending the FIRST Global Challenge 2025, which ran from October twenty-ninth to November first. Just last week, Belize proudly sent off its own team from Belize High School to compete internationally, but the final day turned somber for everyone when Thompson’s body was discovered around 6 a.m. Reports say she had been staying on the twenty-seventh floor with two peers but was found on the twelfth floor near a public pool, apparently after a fall. Right now, Panamanian authorities haven’t confirmed whether foul play was involved. The Bahamian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it’s working closely with local officials and Thompson’s parents, who were at the competition, to coordinate next steps.