A British woman has died after falling from a mountain while hiking with her partner in northern Spain. The 42-year-old fell over 500 metres on the slopes of Balaitus Peak, a famous Pyrenees mountain near the Spanish-French border, on Saturday evening.
The woman was crossing an area known as the Great Diagonal, a popular climbing route to the 3,144-metre peak, when she fell to her death. Her 53-year-old partner, who was present, was unharmed. Police confirmed the deceased was British-born but lived in Finland, like her partner, whose nationality has not been disclosed.
The alarm was raised around 7.20pm. A Civil Guard spokesman said: “An investigation is ongoing… At this stage the woman’s death is being treated as a tragic accident resulting from a fall.” Mountain rescue experts and a helicopter were deployed to recover her body, which was taken to Zaragoza’s Forensic Medicine Institute for a post-mortem.
Weather conditions had been good, but the woman is believed to have slipped in a snow-covered area while descending. The Balaitus Peak is a granite mass on the border between Spain and France, marking the start of the High Pyrenees.
