The 25-year-old man drowned in the Salto de Bolulla area
(Picture: Consorcio Bomberos Alicante)A man believed to be British has drowned in a Spanish river which has claimed the lives of three other people in the past month.
The 25-year-old was pulled unconscious from the water near a famous waterfall close to a popular beauty spot called the Fuentes del Algar a half-hour drive north of Benidorm.
Police sources said early on Tuesday they believed he was British but were still waiting for official confirmation.
One said: "He was swimming and was swept away by the current."
The latest tragedy at the beautiful natural site near the village of Bolulla close to the town of Callosa d’En Sarria occurred on Monday evening.
The alarm was sounded around 6pm and a helicopter with firefighters, police and paramedics mobilised as part of the emergency response.
Efforts to revive the casualty failed and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Local reports said witnesses had tried to save him by performing CPR on him before professionals arrived to take over.
The latest tragedy in the area takes the death toll in the last month at or around the same spot to four.
Two people including a guide were killed on April 8 after being swept away by the current after heavy rains.
They were part of a group of six people.
On April 17 a hiker drowned after falling down the waterfall where the latest tragedy is said to have occurred, a waterfall known as the Bolulla Waterfall in a stunning ravine just north of the popular Fuentes del Algar beauty spot - known as the Algar Waterfalls in English.
The Algar Waterfalls are described as a “fantastic day trip” for holidaymakers staying in the main Costa Blanca coastal resorts on travel websites.
Travel firms offer guided tours to the area.
Visitors who want to do more than just swim around in the rock pools below the waterfalls are advised to bring hiking boots to negotiate the hills and walkways around the Bolulla and Algar Rivers.
The Bolulla waterfall, around a 15-minute hike north of the Algar Waterfalls, is a 65-feet cascade at the end of a ravine known called the Bolulla or Estret de les Penyes Ravine where the tragedies have occurred.
Bolulla mayor Adrian Martinez said after the first three people lost their lives in two separate incidents: “What we have seen here are examples of rashness.
“The river has become swollen with heavy rains and people have gone in despite that and we can’t control everything they do.”
He also flagged up the fact some visitors were accessing the area where lives had been lost through privately-owned plots of land, or ignoring signs warning them to take care if they accessed it from the Algar Waterfalls a short walk away which is a well-controlled area.
Speaking before the latest tragedy, he said: “In the two accidents where three people died the same thing happened. “They fell in the area where the Bolulla waterfall is and there’s a sort of turbine effect there and the people who fall get trapped in the water.”
