A BRITISH woman has reportedly died after suffering a fall in a popular rock climbing area near Malaga in southern Spain.

The victim believed to be aged around 20, was killed after plunging around 500ft off a ravine.

Her body was recovered by emergency services after the alarm was raised just after 7 pm on Friday.

A male friend she was with miraculously survived by grabbing onto a bush-covered rock that was jutting out as he fell.

He was said to have been in a state of shock when he was rescued.

The tragedy took place near the village of El Chorro close to the famous Caminito del Rey pathway.

The climbers were in an area known as the Swiss Sector next to a hiking spot called the Arabic Staircase.

The unnamed mountaineers are understood to have spent the day practising 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 that the pair lost their balance and went over the side of a ravine.

Local press has reported that the woman was British while the nationality of the man who survived has not yet been revealed.

The Civil Guard, the police force investigating the incident, has yet to make any official comment but is expected to do so over the course of the weekend.

The Sun has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.

It is the second tragedy in the area involving a British climber in less than a month.

On December 11 a man said to be 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 chopper rescue. 

He is understood to have been crossing a protected climbing route called a via Ferrata where a metal rail is bolted into the mountain that users can clip into and use as a safety line.

A spokesman for the Guardia Civil in Malaga said after last month’s tragedy: “Members of the specialist Civil Guard Greim mountain rescue team based in Alora near Malaga, supported by a Civil Guard helicopter based in Granada, have rescued the body of a young British man.

“He had suffered a fall while he was crossing a via Ferrata in the area known as Monkey Bridge near El Chorro.

“When officers reached the man he had gone into cardiac arrest.

“Despite practising CPR on him and evacuating him rapidly from the scene by helicopter to a nearby heliport where medical services were waiting, they were only able to confirm his death.”