A tourist in her 70s, who had been staying at a nearby camping, drowned whilst swimming off a Vélez-Málaga (Axarquia) beach on the 23rd of this month.

The accident took place off Playa del Almayate shortly after the 72-year-old woman entered the water in the afternoon on that Wednesday.

Soon after, 112 received calls from witnesses, who had seen that the woman was unable to reach the beach.

The alert came in around 14.45h which was when people walking along the beach, at the Río Seco end, saw what was happening . The call centre immediately alerted the Policía Local, the ambulance service, Cruz Roja, the Guardia Civil and Protección Civil, as well as Salvamento Marítimo, which sent out one of its rescue launches.

The launch retrieved the body and took it to the Puerto de la Caleta (Vélez-Málaga), where medical personnel certified her death.

(News: Vélez-Málaga, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)