A HOLIDAYMAKER has died after falling more than 60feet while hiking on Majorca.
The 75-year-old Irish woman lost her balance when she was out walking with a group of around a dozen other foreign tourists.
Police mountaineers and firefighters were among the emergency responders mobilised after the alarm was raised around midday on Sunday.
But there was nothing they could do to save her life and her body was removed by a Civil Guard helicopter to a heliport at the island’s Inca Hospital.
The tragedy happened at Pas d’en Segarra, a small overhang on a cliff a path popular with Sunday walkers goes through.
The dead woman, who has not yet been named, is believed to have been hiking the five-hour Puig Roig circuit.
The scenic loop goes around the base of a mountain called Puig Roig in the municipality of Escorca in the north-west of the Balearic island.
The classic route offers beautiful panoramic views of the island’s north coast and goes past an old police barracks built as part of the fight against tobacco and alcohol smugglers who used to operate in the area.
Some of the people accompanying the accident victim, who police said were all Irish, are said to have witnessed the tragedy.
It was not immediately clear if the group included the woman’s relatives and where she was from in Ireland.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard, confirming the incident, said: “A 75-year-old Irish woman died yesterday after suffering an accident while she was doing a hike in the area.
“The victim fell from a height of around 20 metres after losing her balance, suffering serious head injuries which caused her death in the place where she had her accident.”
A well-placed source added: “She was the oldest of a group of around 12 people who were all Irish.
“She hit her head when she fell and died virtually instantaneously.”
A post-mortem is due to take place in the coming hours and a routine investigation has been launched by a local court.
The route the dead woman is thought to have been doing is one of the classic hiking routes in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range which is around 50 miles long.
It stretches around 50 miles from Andratx in the south-west to the Cap de Formentor in the far north of the island.
In 2011 it was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status.
Tariq Tahir
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