Chinese conglomerate HNA Group said on Wednesday that its chairman, Wang Jian, died during a business trip in France on Tuesday. Wang had sustained a serious injury from a fall.
The Hainan-based HNA published a statement saying that the 57-year-old Wang accidentally fell from a great height in Provence and didn’t recover after receiving medical attention.
Wang fell 15 meters off a wall in the village of Bonnieux, near Avignon, a picturesque area popular with tourists, lieutenant-colonel Hubert Meriaux of the Vaucluse gendarmerie force told Reuters.
"He stood on the edge of a sharp drop to get his family to take a picture of him and fell," he said.
Police are not treating his death as suspicious. "Witness accounts point to a likely accident," Mr Meriaux also said, adding that a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
“Together, we mourn the loss of an exceptionally gifted leader and role model, whose vision and values will continue to be a beacon for all who had the good fortune to know him, as well as for the many others whose lives he touched through his work and philanthropy,” HNA’s board and management team said in the statement.
HNA, based on the southern Chinese island of Hainan is best known as the owner of Hainan Airlines Co and for holding stakes in Deutsche Bank AG and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.
