A 28-year-old man has died after falling more than ten metres from the cliffs at Barranco Rubio in Orihuela Costa. The incident happened at around 6pm on Sunday as he was walking along the seafront near Mil Palmeras, close to the border with Pilar de la Horadada.

According to initial reports, the Colombian national, who lived in Murcia city, slipped from the top of the cliff near Manoli Hotels. Local sources suggest he may have been trying to retrieve a pair of glasses he had dropped shortly before the fall.

Cyclists who were passing through the area alerted the emergency services after being warned by the man’s partner. A SAMU advanced life support unit attended the scene. Officers from the Guardia Civil’s Judicial Police in Pilar de la Horadada have opened an investigation, and the specialist GEAS underwater unit was deployed to recover the body from a difficult-to-access area.

The body was formally removed at around 10.15pm and transferred by the Valencian Institute of Legal Medicine for a post-mortem examination. The stretch of coastline where the accident happened has no pedestrian adaptations or safety railings.