A tourist has died after plunging from a bridge in Barcelona during an incident believed to be linked to an attempted mugging.
The 25-year-old Canadian lost his fight for life after being rushed to hospital with serious head injuries.
Initial local reports claimed police believed his attackers may have thrown him from the bridge during a struggle after he resisted their attempts to rob him.
But overnight it emerged he may have jumped to his death in the mistaken belief he could reach safety after a fatal miscalculation about the near-20 feet drop.
Two friends who were with him, whose nationalities have not yet been made public, and a taxi driver who subsequently gave a statement to police, are said to have told investigators a group of five youngsters tried to mug them.
The incident that led to the unnamed tourist’s death occurred around 6am on Wednesday morning by exit 23 of a 12-mile coastal ring road partially encircling Barcelona called the Ronda Litoral.
He and his friends are said to have been confronted outside a McDonald’s restaurant near the spot where he was found unconscious, on the road by the bridge below a wall separating the ring road and the exit.
Medics stabilised him at the scene before rushing him “critically injured” to the city’s Hospital del Mar where he died several hours later.
The group of tourists are believed to have been travelled to Barcelona to do some sightseeing before watching this Sunday’s league match between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Catalan capital.
A spokesman for the Mossos d’Esquadra regional police, who are probing the incident in the neighbourhood of Poblenou, part of the district of Santi Marti, said: “Officers from the Investigative Unit of the Santi Marti police station are investigating an incident that took place on Wednesday morning in the district of Santi Marti.
“We were alerted about a fight and a person who had plunged from a bridge over the Ronda Litoral.
“The incident took place about 6am. The man was transferred to hospital in a serious condition. He died several hours later.”
He added: “Investigators are working on gathering as much evidence as possible. The possibility this could be an accidental death has not been ruled out.”
The tourist’s death follows several high-profile violent muggings in Barcelona involving foreign including British holidaymakers.
Last September a UK tourist was stabbed in the city while trying to fight off thieves who had snatched his bag.
He was overheard shouting: “Where’s my s**t, where’s my necklace, where the f**k is it” as he was filmed wrestling with one of the criminals.
Another Brit filming the drama on his mobile phone yelled to one of the assailants: “You’re on camera bro, you want to give it back mate.”
The thief managed to get away after appearing to put a blade to his victim’s face and making off with a stolen bum bag.
Three accomplices sprinted away after him following the incident, said to have started when the four men approached the Brit and snatched a necklace off him in a beautiful city centre square called Plaza Sant Josep Oriol.
The four suspects were all arrested shortly afterwards in the same area.
Last June a wealthy American had his designer watch stolen during a violent mugging outside the five-star Mercer Hotel in Barcelona.
Many of the street thefts and robberies are carried out by gangs of repeat offenders, although local press say only six out of every 100 cases involve the use of force or violence.
