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Woman drowns in vat of wine

Connoisseur was disorientated by fermentation fumes

Christopher Hooton
Thursday 02 October 2014 11:55 BST
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25-year-old Nerea Perez has died after becoming intoxicated by fermentation fumes at a cellar and falling into a vat of wine.

The woman, who was a wine specialist at the cellar in the Spanish village of Salas de los Barrios, is thought to have lost her balance due to the dizzying effect of the fumes.

Perez's uncle discovered her drowning in the vat and called the emergency services, but they were only able to retrieve her body.

"Now is the time for harvesting grapes so a lot of villages around here have people working on stirring the wine in the barrels," colleague Ginevra Peralta Colunga said.

"This is the first time this has happened though."

Perez was a key member of the town's Young Socialists group, which paused its campaigning for a day in light of the news.

"We regret the loss of a member of the Bierzo, a companion, which is made more painful by the circumstance and her youth," the party's district secretary Alvaro Gerarfo Courel wrote on its website.

"We will show deepest sympathy and send a big hug to her family, friends and the Socialist Youth of Bierzo."

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