Pictured: The awesome human towers built during traditional Spanish festival

Balancing act: 'Castellers' build a human tower during the Tarragona Castells Competition in Spain

It's doubtful whether health and safety officials would ever permit it in Britain, but yesterday hundreds of Spaniards took part in a traditional human tower building competition. Members of the Castellers de Sants constructed a number of towers that teetered on collapse throughout the day during the 22nd Tarragona Castells contest.

Sure enough, the inevitable happened as one particularly precarious tower collapsed to the ground during the event in Tarragona, 100kilometres south of Barcelona along Spain's Mediterranean coast.

The 'castellers' build the human towers with precise techniques and compete in groups, known as 'colles'. Each colle aims to build the highest and most complex tower.

The Catalan tradition is believed to have originated from human towers built at the end of the 18th century by dance groups and is part of the Catalan culture.