Two women, a Briton and a Spaniard, died yesterday after rocks broke away from a 40 metre high cliff and fell onto a beach in Tenerife.

The incident on Playa del Acantilado de los Gigantes in the south western part of Tenerife close to the tourist hotspot of Santiago del Teide, is the most serious of its kind to have occurred in over twenty years.

The dead women are M.A.O. a 57-year-old British woman and M.V.A.R. a 34year-old Spanish woman from Arona, in the south of the island.

The size of the fallen rocks made the emergency services' job difficult, with piles of broken rock reaching five metres at some points and covering an area of between 75 and 100 square metres.

Antonio Plasencia, a lifeguard working on the beach, confirmed that he had warned bathers that they were in a danger zone, because there was a similar rock slide on October 7th, which did not cause any injuries, but had prompted the local police to put up barriers around that part of the beach.

The mayor of Santiago del Teide, Juan Damián Gorrín, also confirmed that the section of the beach affected yesterday was already cordoned off and there were clear warnings about the danger of rocks coming away from the cliff above.

The owner of a nearby restaurant, however, feels that the town council have to "share the blame" for not ensuring that there was no access at all to that part of the beach, saying that "the locals had warned the council that something like this was going to happen".

Despite the massive rescue operation launched by all the emergency services, nothing could be done to save the two women's lives.