British influencer dies after falling from Spain's highest bridge

A daredevil British influencer has died after falling from Spain's highest bridge.

The 26-year digital creator is said to have plunged from the 630ft Castilla-La Mancha bridge in Talavera de la Reina a 90-minute drive south-west of Madrid early this morning over the Tagus River as he climbed it to film a social media stunt.

Local councillor Macarena Munoz confirmed the tragedy today as she said accessing the bridge was 'totally banned'.

She added: 'We have made it clear on several occasions that it's not something that can be done in any circumstances.'

The unnamed British man is said to have been with a compatriot aged 24 when he plunged to his death.

Footage from the scene of the tragedy showed police cordoning off the area near to where he fell.

Talavera de la Reina Town Council confirmed in a statement: 'The Councillor for Citizen Security, Macarena Munoz, has confirmed the death of a young man after he fell from the Castilla-La Mancha bridge.

'He was a 26-year-old Englishman who fell while climbing the aforementioned bridge, something which the councillor has made clear is totally prohibited and that we have reiterated on numerous occasions cannot be done under any circumstances.'

'The young man was accompanied by another 24-year-old Englishman.

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'According to what we have been able to establish they had come to Talavera to climb the bridge and create content for social media, which has resulted in this unfortunate and sad outcome.'

'The judge and the forensic doctor have already authorised the removal of the body, which has been transferred to the funeral parlour.'

A post-mortem is yet to take place.

Today's tragedy happened around 7.15am.

National Police as well as local town-hall employed firefighters rushed to the scene with paramedics but there was nothing they could to save the Brit.

The bridge where the incident occurred is the second-highest in Europe as well as being the highest in Spain.

A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency coordination centre confirmed: 'We received the first call at 7.14am today, saying a young man had fallen while he was climbing the Castilla-La Mancha Bridge.

'The victim, who was aged 26, was pronounced dead at the scene.'

National Police, local police, firefighters from Talavera de la Reina and an emergency ambulance was sent to the scene but there was nothing any of the emergency responders could do to save him.

Police said last night they were not going to name the dead Briton.

A spokesman for National Police in Toledo, the province Talavera de la Reina is part of, said: 'He was about 40 to 50 metres up, around a quarter of the total height of the bridge, when he fell.

'The reason he fell is not clear and will be investigated by a local court.'

A source close to the investigation said: 'Both the dead man and the companion that survived were climbing without any harnesses or other protection.

'A passing motorist raised the alarm.

'The other lad was in a state of shock initially and couldn't even speak. He's obviously still pretty traumatised but is not at the police station any longer.

'He's not going to be charged with any crime. Whether the local town hall decides to sanction him for doing something illegal is a decision for them.'

Investigators are expected to look into the possibility bad weather played a part in what happened as it is thought to have rained heavily in Talavera de la Reina before the tragedy, making everything more slippery than it normally would have been.

It was not immediately clear last night whether the two Brits had travelled to Spain solely to make the bridge climb they wanted to film.

They had been using a rental car to get around.

The bridge is a cable-stayed bridge featuring 152 wire ropes which was opened on October 17 2011 and cost nearly 74 million euros to build.

It was widely considered a waste of money by local and national media when it was built and as it carried little traffic was often referred to as the 'bridge to nowhere.'

A year ago local police reported two young bloggers who climbed it without any protection and then posted videos on their social media.

In 2016 two youngsters were reported for the same stunt.It is not known how far up the structure the Brit was when he fell.