A Russian scientist plunged to his death off an Alpine peak after his hiking app apparently sent him over a mountain precipice.

Dr Dmitry Fedyanin’s body was found at the bottom of the 2,074-metre (6,804-foot) high Hoher Laafeld peak in Berchtesgadener Alps National Park, Germany.

Police believe he was using an app on his phone to find his way down to Gotzenalm near Koenigssee Lake, but was led along a route with no paths.

Mountain rescue experts found his body a day after his fall on 12th August when he was reported missing.

He is understood to have died from head injuries.

Dr Fedyanin, 34, was an expert in the study of ultra-violet light and was senior research fellow at the Nanooptics Department of Germany’s Siegen University.

Upper Bavarian Police spokesman Maximilian Maier said: “Our investigators assume that the male individual slipped in the rocky area which features some patches of grass.”

Maier added: “He then slid down at least 150 metres (492 feet).

“It is understood that he had been around on his own. The involvement of any other person can be ruled out.”