British Woman Dies After 500m Fall From Balaitús Peak in Spain

A 42-year-old British woman died after falling almost 500m from Balaitús Peak in Spain's Huesca region on Saturday evening. The alarm was raised at about 19:30 local time, which is 18:30 BST. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

She had been hiking with a 53-year-old man who was unharmed. The pair were descending in the area of the Gran Diagonal, according to Spanish news outlet El País. Members of the Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group (GREIM) and the Huesca Air Unit attended the scene.

The woman's body was taken to Zaragoza's Forensic Medicine Institute for a post-mortem. The woman was a British national who lived in Finland. The Foreign Office said it is aware of the death and is in contact with the Spanish authorities.

An investigation is ongoing, a Civil Guard spokesperson told The Sun. The spokesperson said a report would be sent to a local investigating court along with the post-mortem results. The Civil Guard is treating the death as a tragic accident resulting from a fall.

The incident follows several other interventions by the Civil Guard's mountain team in the Pyrenees in the past week. Between 26 May and 30 May, the GREIM carried out nine mountain rescues. On Monday, the Civil Guard called for hikers to take safety precautions before heading out into the mountains.

It encouraged them to bring enough water, take charged electronics with location settings enabled, wear sun protection, and to check the route and weather before setting off.