A PUB landlady died after falling into a volcanic pool full of red-hot lava while on a sightseeing trip with her 64-year-old husband in the Azores, an inquest was told.

Gillian Blann, 58, from Edge Hill, stepped back and fell into the "caldera" as she tried to take a picture of her husband, John, while they were on holiday last April.

Bottles of cold water from onlookers were used to try and soothe her horrific injuries but Mrs Blann, who had second degree burns to 90% of her body, died in hospital a week later.

The couple, who were licensees of the Castle Inn, only decided to take the trip because Mr Blann had recently undergone a heart bypass, the inquest at Leamington Spa Town Hall heard.

Mr Blann told Coroner Michael Coker that he and his wife were four days into their holiday in Portal del Gado when, on April 9, they went on a coach tour into the Furnes mountain region.

"The mountain region was volcanic with many unguarded water geysers and bubbling pools of lava," he said.

The pub landlord added that he had taken a double dose of the herbal remedy "Rescue" that day because he suffered from vertigo and was therefore "outwardly extremely calm and collected".

He explained that he had been posing for a holiday picture when his wife slipped backwards into one of the boiling pools of liquid.

"We were standing near to three or four bubbling pools. I stood to the side of one and my wife, Gillian, was about to take a photograph of me. Suddenly we were engulfed by a large sulphur cloud. I could not see anything. I heard my wife shout 'John'.

"When the cloud lifted a few seconds later, I found my wife clinging onto the side of one of the volcanic pools. She was fully immersed. We pulled her out. She was talking quite coherently and had her faculties."

Mr Blann said that although his wife was badly burned and he was "obviously concerned" for her health, he did not think at that time that her injuries were life threatening.

He added: "Bottles of cold water were poured over my wife to take the stinging out of the burns."

An ambulance arrived and gave Mrs Blann first aid before she was taken to a small hospital further down the mountain.

At 8pm that evening she was air-lifted to the burns unit of the San Jose Hospital in Lisbon.

Mr Blann said: "She was still talking to me. She told me off for staring at her. By now I was beginning to realise that I may lose my wife."

Mrs Blann survived for a week before dying in hospital on the following Saturday, April 16, at 3.30am.

The cause of death was given as sepsis, as a result of second degree burns to 90% of her body after contact with boiling liquid.

Court documents from Portugal, read out by the coroner, said there was no indication of foul play and that Mrs Blann's death was purely accidental.

Mr Coker said he agreed with the Portuguese authorities and recorded a verdict of accidental death.