Brit woman, 39, dies while hiking amid soaring temperatures on Spanish island of Fuerteventura

• 39-year-old’s body was discovered just before 1pm yesterday near Morro Jable
• It comes as the Canary Islands began experiencing a heatwave on Friday 

A British woman has been found dead near a hiking trail on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura amid soaring temperatures in recent days.

The 39-year-old’s body was discovered just before 1pm yesterday in a mountain area near the town of Morro Jable on the south coast of the island.

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 heat-related.

It comes as the Canary Islands began experiencing a heatwave on Friday, with regional authorities issuing a ‘maximum alert’ because of the brutal temperatures.

The 39-year-old’s body was discovered just before 1pm yesterday in a mountain area near the town of Morro Jable (pictured) on the south coast of the island

Emergency responders confirmed the discovery of the British woman’s remains 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, which has launched a routine probe into the woman’s death which is being coordinated by a local investigating court, said, confirming she was a 39-year-old tourist who had travelled to Fuerteventura on a British passport: ‘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.’

Another well-placed insider, responding to local reports the dead woman had been doing sport, said she was believed to have been on 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 in an incident which has also been linked to the extreme heat affecting some of the Canary Islands.

Emergency responders said they were alerted after she ‘fainted’ near the village of Vera de Erques during an excursion in the west of Tenerife.

The alarm was raised around 6pm yesterday. Attempts to revive her at the scene after she slipped into unconsciousness failed.

The highest temperature in Spain yesterday was recorded at a weather station in the municipality of La Aldea de San Nicolas in Gran Canaria – 44.4 degrees Celsius which is nearly 112 degrees Fahrenheit.

The heatwave in the Canary Islands began on Friday, with regional authorities issuing a ‘maximum alert’ because of the high temperatures and urging locals and holidaymakers to take precautionary measures including drinking lots of water and trying to stay in the shade during the hottest midday hours.

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