London, Jun 27 A teenage Brazilian girl leapt off the Eiffel Tower, and crashed on to the roof of a packed restaurant 180ft below.

The 18-year-old girl had broken through a security barrier on the Paris landmark's 350ft-high second tier, and jumped to her death as her brother frantically tried to stop her.

Diners on the tower's 170ft-high first floor then heard the girl smash into the plastic roof of the restaurant just five feet above their heads.

"It was a shocking moment. The smashing noise was like a bomb going off as the roof cracked, then everyone there very quickly realised what had happened," the Daily Express quoted a waiter at the restaurant as saying.

"The most bizarre thing was most of the customers just carried on eating. I have no idea why they did that," he said.

Police said the girl's 25-year-old brother had frantically tried to stop her, but that she had jumped before he could reach her.

"He watched her leap over the railing and vanish. He is in a state of extreme shock and has been taken to hospital for treatment," a spokesman said.

The victim, who jumped on June 25, has not been named because her family has to be informed first.

The 980ft tower is the world's most-visited attraction, with more than six million tourists a year.

A spokesman said that increased security and netting had cut suicides from the tower to only four a year.

"Each suicide here is one death too many. We are all very distressed by what happened," he added. (ANI)