Caminito del Rey Malaga: Tourist, 21, plunges to her death from popular Spanish rock climbing area - as friend survives by clinging to rock

The 21-year-old’s body was rescued by emergency services after the alarm was raised just after 7pm on Friday (10 January). A male friend she was with miraculously cheated death by grabbing onto a bush-covered rock that was jutting out from the rest as he fell alongside his climbing companion.

He was said to have been in a state of shock when he was rescued alive. The fatal incident occurred near to the village of El Chorro close to the famous Caminito del Rey pathway.

The spot the climbers were in is called the Swiss Sector next to a hiking area called the Arabic Staircase. The unnamed mountaineers are understood to have spent the day practicing sport and are thought to have suffered their accident as they made their descent after taking the wrong route by mistake.

The survivor has told police they lost their balance and went over the side of a ravine. The Civil Guard, the police force investigating the incident, confirmed the woman was an Irish national.

A spokesman for the force in Malaga said: “I can confirm the woman who died was an Irish 21-year-old.” It was not immediately clear if she was on holiday in the area or lived in Spain or where in Ireland she came from.

The nationality of the man she was with is not yet known. Last month, a British climber died in the same area.

That tragedy occurred on December 11 when a man aged around 20 fell and hurt himself in an area known as Puente del Mono, which translates into English as Monkey Bridge, close to the village of El Chorro. He was knocked unconscious and had gone into cardiac arrest by the time the first emergency responders arrived. The Brit, who was not named, was pronounced dead after the rescue.