A hiker plunged to her death down a mountain ravine after slipping over the edge of a cliff while her friends could only listen to her screams of terror.

Victim Mariacristina Masocco, 26, had been hiking with three friends when she slipped and fell into a ravine near the town of Feltre, Belluno Province, in the northern Italian region of Veneto on 20th November.

They were reportedly walking in a line when Mariacristina slipped and fell to her death on the pass through the Dolomite mountains.

The hikers – two men and two women – were coming down from the mountain when Mariacristina slipped and fell screaming into the void as she disappeared from sight.

Her friends called the emergency services, who sent a rescue helicopter.

But when they reached Mariacristina , they could only confirm she was already dead.

The tragedy shocked the community where her mother and sister live.

The mayor of her home town, Feltre, Viviana Fusaro, said: “The news that arrived this evening of the tragic death of the young Maria Cristina Masocco, which took place in the afternoon in the mountains, strikes us in a truly profound way.

“In these hours, no words can soothe the intimate suffering of the mother, younger sister and friends […].”

She added: “I want to express to them the sincere closeness of the entire community, who joins in an embrace to their great pain.”