While on a hiking trip on a 13,600 foot mountain in Morocco, a British woman fell into a crevice and died last week as her climbing companion watched.

The tragic incident happened on October 25 as the two were scaling Mount Toubkal.

Reports by local media said that the two had decided against hiring a tour guide, and the incident happened just as they were almost reaching their destination. The woman fell into a hole near the top of the mountain and was severely injured. Local sources said she died immediately.

Authorities have not identified the woman, but the incident happened in an area known as Aslghi, near Tizi. Tizi is one of the highest points of Mount Toubkal, which is popular with climbers as they pose for photos showing that they have reached the peak.

Morocco’s Royal Gendarmerie, Civil Protection, and local authorities sent emergency responders and officers to the scene. They carried the woman’s body down from the mountain and investigated the incident.

Local reports also said that the two had begun their journey from Al Ravij to start up the mountain. They chose not to use a local tour guide to accompany them to the top of the mountain, which is usually a two-day climb.

Located in the southwestern part of Morocco and about 40 miles away from Marrakesh, Mount Toubkal is the highest peak in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. It is also the highest mountain in North Africa.

The mountain, seen as a relatively safe mountain to climb, is a popular hiking destination among backpackers and skiers.

Despite its height, the mountain’s terrain is friendly and easy to climb, especially with the help of tour guides, which are available for hire and help the tourists carry food, supplies, and equipment.

A report by a local news outlet, “Our Moroccan News,” said that the mountain guides are very well versed in the mysteries of the mountain, its terrain, and its dangers. The report implied that a local guide would have been able to stop the tragedy by alerting the woman of the risk of going near the area where she fell.

The mountain has claimed several lives in the past. 

In 2016, another British citizen, Connor Jarvis, who was still a teenager, decided to embark on an adventurous trek through the Atlas Mountains alone. Unfortunately, he plunged to death, and his body was found on Mount Toubkal 12 days after he started the hike.

Although his parents had advised him to hire a local tour guide, he decided he did not need their services after downloading an online hiking guide. He went missing for almost two weeks before he was finally found.

Barely two years after Connor’s death, in 2018, two Scandinavian women were murdered in the region. Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, were beheaded by a suspected ISIS member near Imlil, a village in the Atlas Mountains.