Tourist didn't realise she was gang raped until Spanish police played back the CCTV

Four Moroccan men have been detained on the Spanish Canary Islands after a Danish tourist was raped multiple times in one night. The woman was so intoxicated that she only reported being raped once, but CCTV footage showed that three others had joined in while she was unconscious.

The men, who are all friends aged between 26 and 32, have been identified by police after a painstaking investigation that began after the attack on 26 December 2016. Detectives are also looking for a fifth man, who tried to rape the victim an hour after the others had left her passed out on the street in Puerto Mogan, Garn Canaria.

The woman came to her senses as the fifth individual, who was not part of the initial group, tried to assault her. She beat him off and went to the police station, reporting that she had been raped once and narrowly avoided another rape.

However, unbeknown to her, she had passed out during the first rape and then had been repeatedly assaulted by the first rapist's accomplices. They then left her in a heap behind a commercial building before a fifth attacker tried his luck, Spanish newspaper El Pais reports.

"The study and analysis of security recordings revealed that the victim had borne a greater burden than she thought, five man assaulted and sexually abused the tourist on that night," Spanish police said.

The drunk tourist, whose age and identity is being withheld to protect her, was initially led to the hidden spot in the centre of Puerto Morgan by the first attacker despite a "firm opposition" to his demands.

Three associates of the first man soon joined and then took it in turns to sexually abuse her despite her passing out during the first attack. An hour later, the fifth attacker arrived on the scene but the woman regained consciousness and fought him off after a two minute struggle.

She fled to the station and gave her account, which was later found to have not captured the true horror of the night's events. Detectives then set about trying to identify the attackers. Now they believe they have four of their suspects.

There are 16,000 Moroccans living on the Canary islands, which lie 62 miles west of the north African nation. It is not clear if the men were detained in Spain or Morocco.

In Italy, two men of Morrocan-descent, a Nigerian and a Congolese man will soon stand trial after 26-year-old tourist was gang raped on a popular tourist beach in Rimini in September.