The accident, which occurred at 09.30h, according to the official press release, involved a woman driver, who came off the road, ending up 20 metres below.

She was the only occupant in the car and was rescued alive and taken to Motril hospital.

The rescue operation was very complicated and required climbing equipment in order to descend the steep hillside and get the stretcher up to the road again.

The Barranco de Enmedio has a long history of accidents but we’ll only go back to 2004 to keep it short:

On the 6th of October 2004, a 38-year-old man died in the early hours in Hospital de Traumatología after having driven off the road into the said barranco in a cement-mixer lorry the night before…

On Boxing Day 2006 a 28-year-old Moroccan driver died after colliding with a bus. His compatriot passenger was seriously injured. The 20 people on the Algeciras-Almería coach were uninjured. (kilometre point 320.9)

On Christmas Eve, 2009, eight people were injured, amongst them two young children, when a multiple accident occurred between a family car, a tanker lorry and a minibus. The tanker, which was transporting calcium nitrate, jackknifed after the trailer went on two wheels on the bend. (kilometre point 320.)

On the 2nd of April, 2012, two articulated lorries collided at 13.00h – neither driver was seriously hurt despite the lorries turning over.

Finally, last year, on the 28th of August, four people were injured when a family car went over the side of the road and down into the barranco at 20.30h.

So there you are, take care coming down the N-340 after Urb. Alfa Mar, heading towards Almuñécar – the down-hill bends with fast traffic coming the opposite way on the overtaking lane is a death trap for the unwary.

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