A British man killed in a 50-meter dive on a Spanish mountain known as the "Sleeping Lion"

A British man died in a 50-meter dive near the Costa Blanca, Spain, while he was rappelling on a mountain that locals call the "Sleeping Lion".

A woman who accompanied this unnamed 35 year old mountaineer was rescued by helicopter and taken to hospital with a broken left leg.

The man reportedly died after falling nearly 20 meters while abseiling at Monte Ponoig in the southeastern province of Alicante.

The wounded woman is believed to be a 33 year old Briton, although officials could not be contacted to confirm her nationality.

A mountain rescue team took her safely to Alfa 1, a firefighter helicopter.

Images posted on social media show a yellow rescue helicopter hovering over the scene when a rescuer is lowered with a basket stretcher.

Other videos show people on the mountainside and a patient on the stretcher heaving in the air towards the helicopter.

The tragedy occurred around 16:30 Tuesday.

An eyewitness wrote on Facebook: "Too bad.We could see the rescue from below.We thought they (rescuers in the helicopter) were doing maneuvers."

The death of the Briton will be verified by a local magistrate.

A local report said that it was not yet clear whether this could be related to a failure of the equipment or a health problem that he has encountered.

The mountain is called the "lion asleep" by locals because of its silhouette seen from the nearby town of Polop, located half an hour drive from the seaside resorts of the Costa Blanca such as Calpe.

It is one of the most emblematic mountains of the province of Alicante and a popular place for hikers and climbers.

The mountain is the southernmost extension of the Sierra de Aitana and has several peaks over one thousand meters high.

The summit is at 1,181 meters.

It is not uncommon to see rock climbing or boating evenings on the mountain. The exhausting climbs may take a whole day to complete.