A British man died last night after falling into the l'Os de Civís river as he and a group of his countrymen were quad biking in Valls de Valira (Lleida).

Emergency services were advised shortly after midnight that the man, who was at the back of the group, had come off the path and slipped down a bank into the river.

The man, whose identity has not been confirmed, was eventually spotted floating in the water at around 1.30am some five hundred metres from where he fell in though it took rescuers some considerable time to recover his body owing to the darkness, the persistent rain and the steepness of the river bank.