“Neighbours have found her. We have since sealed off the location,” police spokesperson Björ Blixt told the TT news agency.

Police were called in at around 9am on Tuesday.

According to a TT source a dead dog has also been found in the same basin where the woman was found, located on a farm near the small rural community of Essunga in Västergötland.

“She appears to have been trying to save her dog, which had fallen in to the well, and then fallen in herself,” a neighbour told the broadcaster TV4.

Police were at first unable to rule out that a crime had been committed, but were able to confirm on Tuesday afternoon that her death was probably an accident.

“There is nothing which indicates a crime,” said police inspector Pelle Jenvén to TT.

A probable scenario that police are working on is that the woman fell in while trying to save her dog and was unable to save herself.

“It is practically impossible to get back out of the well once you have got in there,” said Jenvén.

The accident is presumed to have occurred on Tuesday morning. The deceased is reported to be a local resident.