A BRITISH woman has died while apparently hiking in the Canary Island of Fuerteventura on one of its hottest days of the year.
The 39-year-old’s body was discovered just before 1pm yesterday in a mountainous area near the town of Morro Jable.
GettyHer body was discovered on one of the hottest days of the year[/caption]
AlamyThe woman was near the fishing town of Morro Jable[/caption]
Police confirmed overnight the dead woman was a British holidaymaker.
She has not been named and it is not known at this stage where in the UK she is from.
An autopsy is due to take place in the coming hours to try to determine whether her death was related to the intense heat the island witnessed in recent days.
Emergency responders confirmed the discovery in a short statement, saying the alarm had been raised at 12.48pm local time yesterday.
A spokesman for a regional government emergency response coordination centre said: “The alert we received said a person who was unresponsive had been found on a dirt track in a mountain area in Morro Jable in Fuerteventura.
“The appropriate emergency response was activated immediately but the woman was confirmed dead on their arrival.”
A source at the Civil Guard said: “She was wearing sports clothes and appears to have been out hiking on her own.
“There were no signs of visible violence on her body but it will be up to the autopsy to determine the cause of death and discover whether it was heat-related which is obviously one possibility.
“We cannot confirm what the cause might be at this stage.”
The Civil Guard has launched a routine probe into the woman’s death which is being coordinated by a local investigating court.
Another well-placed insider told local media the dead woman had been doing a mountain walk.
The British tourist was discovered dead around six hours before a second tourist, a 50-year-old Dutch woman, died after collapsing during a hike in Tenerife.
The Dutch woman’s death has also been linked to the extreme heat affecting some of the Canary Islands.
The highest temperature in Spain yesterday was recorded at a weather station in the municipality of La Aldea de San Nicolas in Gran Canaria, registering 44.4 degrees.
The heatwave in the Canary Islands began on Friday, with regional authorities issuing a “maximum alert” because of the high temperatures.
Locals and holidaymakers have been urged to take precautionary measures including drinking lots of water and trying to stay in the shade during the hottest midday hours.
GettyThe stunning area has seen sweltering heat this summer[/caption]