A 53-year-old man died after driving over the side of a steep gully above Almuñécar, on the road that leads up to Peña Escrita. The family had reported him missing the day before.

Around 11.45h yesterday morning a fellow road user phoned the emergency 112 number to say that there was a crashed vehicle at the bottom of El Barranco de Estaca, some five kilometres from the Peña Escrita mountain park, with a body inside. The local fire service, Guardia Civil and medical staff immediately set out to the scene of the crash but could little other than certify that the driver was dead. The previous day, Friday, at 19.00h family members reported that the man was missing.

The exact time of the incident is not known but the last reports of the man being seen alive was midday the day before. Neither is the reason for the vehicle’s leaving the road before plunging down this steep gully known at this present time. The driver was found with his seat-belt on.

The death of F.M.M, who is the father of two children, one of whom is a minor, has caused great upset amongst the locals of Río Seco, where he lived. The victim worked for a comunidad de riegos (irrigation cooperative) but it is not known if he was working at the time of the accident.

Stop Press: Multitudinous turn out at the victim’s funeral at the main church in Almuñécar today, Monday the 9th. Just under two hundred people present.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Almuñécar)