Woman rescued by emergency services on “world’s most dangerous walkway”

EMERGENCY services were called in to perform a tricky medical evacuation of  a 55-year-old woman from the Caminito del Rey – a walkway pinned 100 metres above a narrow gorge just inland from Spain’s Costa del Sol.

Approximately half-way along the 3km suspended walkway in El Chorro, Malaga,  the woman, from Cadiz, reported severe chest pains.

Civil Protection volunteers from Alora were called in to perform the rescue with a specialist stretcher, something they regularly train for.

They were supported by firefighters from Coin for the final section of the rescue.

The emergency service 112 control centre was initially alerted at 1.48pm and the patient was evacuated through the southern exit of the Caminito at about 4pm.

The Caminito re-opened in 2015 after four years of extensive repairs and is now one of the most popular visitor attractions in Malaga province.

The walkway was built to provide workers at the hydroelectric power plants at Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls with a means to cross between them. The construction began in 1901 and was finished in 1905. King Alfonso XIII crossed the walkway in 1921 for the inauguration of the Conde del Guadalhorce dam.

It has been known in the past as the “world’s most dangerous walkway” following several deaths.

After two fatal accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed both entrances. Even so, in the four years leading up to 2013, four people died attempting to climb the gorge. 

Scenes from the 1965 movie Von Ryan’s Express were shot at the gorge