Woman dies after being hit by rotten tree that hurtled down mountainside

Police say tree trunk hit couple walking along popular hiking path

The accident occurred on a walking path of the Gommer mountain trail which is popular with hikers in the Swiss Alps (Getty Images)

A woman has died after being hit by a rotten tree that tumbled more than 100 metres down a mountainside in the Swiss Alps, police have said.

Police in Valais canton, Switzerland, said the trunk of the tree broke off and rolled about 120 metres down a steep slope as a Swiss couple were walking along a hiking path below.

The 59-year-old woman, who has not been identified, was transported from the scene by helicopter but rescuers were unable to prevent her death.

The accident occurred on a walking path of the Gommer mountain trail, a popular trail in Switzerland, near the village of Ulrichen shortly after 2pm on Monday.

Police said the tree involved was approximately six to seven metres long and 30 centimetres in diameter.

An investigation has been opened by the Swiss public ministry, although the tree trunk is understood to have broken off naturally.

Valais Police said the man in the couple was not injured in the accident but they could not comment any further on the incident.

Accidents are not uncommon in the area around Valais, but they tend to occur during mountaineering trips recently.

Last week, police reported three deaths in mountain accidents – two in an incident on the Matterhorn mountain and one in an accident on Grand Combin near Bourg-Saint-Pierre.

A separate death in a paragliding accident in the Val d'Anniviers was reported to have taken place around 6.30pm on 22 July.

In 2018, figures from the Swiss Alpine Club - the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland – found nearly 80 people died while carrying out activities in the Swiss mountains from January to June of that year.

The figure was more than double the number of deaths recorded during the same period in 2017.