A French woman from a scientific expedition team died after falling off the crag of a 210-meter-deep pit in central China's Hubei Province, local authorities said Tuesday.

The 27-year-old victim, Lagrede Malissa, was among the 24-member French team for Karst Caves studies, a spokesman with the Enshi Municipal Foreign Affairs Office told Xinhua.

Malissa died Saturday afternoon while exploring a Tiankeng, a Karst landform, at Enshi's Banqiao Township along with her colleagues, the spokesman said.

The accident took place when she was trying to fix a safety pylon into the wall of the funnel-like pit at a depth of 180 meters, but rocks on the wall suddenly collapsed. Malissa fell from the crag and died.

Malissa's body was retrieved Sunday morning and is being kept at a local funeral home, the spokesman said.

The local government has notified the French embassy in Beijing about the accident, he said.

The exploration team arrived at Banqiao on Aug. 4.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2009)