Hotel balcony fall woman critical

Rhian Evans is being treated for her injuries

A woman is critically ill in hospital after plunging eight storeys from a hotel balcony while on holiday in Spain.

Rhian Evans, of Crynant near Neath, south Wales, fell at her hotel on the Costa Brava on Monday while on a short break with her daughter.

Friends and family are understood to have flown out to be by her bedside.

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed Ms Evans, who is believed to be in her early 20s, was in hospital.

"We can confirm that Rhian Evans was hospitalised on 30 June after falling from a balcony at a Costa Brava hotel," he added.

Family friend Brian Haines, 72, of Crynant, said his partner, Allison Williams, who is the injured woman's aunt, witnessed the fall.

She had accompanied Ms Evans and her daughter, Chloe, on the trip to Spain.

The accident happened two days after their arrival.

Ms Evans was staying at a hotel on the Costa Brava in Spain

He told the South Wales Evening Post that his wife called him in the early hours of Tuesday to say Ms Evans was in intensive care.

The full extent of her injuries is not yet known.

"She is in a very bad way. I think she hit the second-floor balcony on the way down as well," he told the newspaper.

He said his partner had since flown back to the UK with Ms Evans's daughter and was expected back in Wales at any time.

He added: "There is an army of family going out to Spain though, she's from a very big family. Everyone is praying for her."