A British holidaymaker ended up giving to her premature baby in the garden of a hotel in the Costa del Sol during the .

The tourist went to a receptionist for help after herin the early hours of this morning. The hotel staff then tried to call a taxi, but it was too late and they ended up helping the Brit give birth and even carried out CPR on the newborn who did not have a pulse. It all happened at the Puente Real Hotel in at around 3am this morning when the tourist approached reception to inform them that her baby was on the way.

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The unnamed tourist was rushed to hospital after emergency services reached the hotel and took her away in an ambulance with a police escort. She was 30 weeks pregnant when her waters broke and she went into labour.

Her baby is said to be in a "critical" condition this morning after the traumatic birth. A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency services coordination centre confirmed the incident this morning.

In a statement they said: "A British woman gave birth to a premature baby near reception at the Puente Real hotel in Torremolinos during the early hours of this morning in the midst of the crisis caused by the blackout on the Spanish mainland.

"The receptionist of the establishment assisted her and even performed CPR on the newborn, who had no pulse. The events occurred around three in the morning.

"The young woman, in her twenties, who was staying at the hotel, showed up at the reception in the middle of labour, as her water had broken. The receptionist tried to call a taxi and notify the emergency services, but there wasn't enough time.

"The woman gave birth in the garden at the entrance of the hotel. It was a premature birth, as the girl was in the 30th week of gestation. The baby showed signs of asphyxia and had gone purple so the receptionist, following instructions from medical experts over the phone, performed CPR manoeuvers until it started to cough.

"The paramedics after they arrived were escorted by the National Police to the Materno Infantil Hospital in Malaga, where the newborn was admitted in critical condition, although with a pulse."

The condition of the baby's mum was not known this morning, although she was described as "remaining in bed" at the Malaga hospital. More than 50 million people across Spain and Portugal were left without power after what authorities termed a "rare atmospheric phenomenon".

Homes, businesses, airlines and telecomes providers were left without power after the widespread blackouts which were initially feared to have been a result of a cyber attack. Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN) Portugal's power grid operator, claimed it was the result of a "rare atmospheric phenomenon" hitting the European network in Spain.

REN representatives said this afternoon that "extreme temperature variations in the interior or Spain" caused what it termed "anomalous oscillations" in very high voltage lines on the country's network. The phenomenon, representatives added, was termed "induced atmospheric vibration", and are said to have caused massive electrical systems failures in Spain that exploded across Europe.

The network operators said: "These oscillations caused synchronisation failures between the electrical systems, leading to successive disturbances across the interconnected European network." REN's explanation has not yet been accepted as the definite cause of the blackouts just yet, however, with Spain yet to comment on the claims from the Portuguese operator. European Council president António Costa said on the sidelines of a trip to Bulgaria that a cause of the shutdown has not been identified.

He said: "For the time being, they have not identified the cause of this shutdown, but they are working to supply the energy. He added: "They have not … identified the cause, but there is no evidence that it was a cyber-attack,” he said, before adding: “For the time being, we need to wait.”

REN added in its explanation that it could take up to a week for the local network to return to full capacity, although it did not explain how many people would continue to be affected beyond the first day.