Distressing images have revealed how British victims of a Spanish wildfire appeared to run out of escape routes while fleeing along dirt tracks from the deadly inferno.
The photographs show a burned-out vehicle in which four British nationals are believed to have lost their lives after flames trapped them as they attempted to evacuate.
The fire began late last Thursday in a dry, semi-arid area close to the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains in Almería province, and has claimed at least 12 lives.
Near the vehicle were five more cars and a motorbike, all abandoned at the same point on a hillside dirt road near Bedar, where the major loss of life occurred.
One witness who reached the scene and saw the remains of the stricken convoy said: ‘It looks like the devil has passed through here.’
Four of the vehicles had been reduced to skeletal shells, while only two cars remained largely intact, though their paintwork had been scorched and damaged by the extreme heat.
One blackened chassis was facing the opposite way from the others, suggesting its terrified driver may have tried desperately to turn around after inadvertently driving towards a wall of flames.
More than 500 firefighters were still battling the devastating wildfire this morning, as officials confirmed that the number of residents forced from their homes had climbed to just over 1,400.
Harrowing photographs show how British wildfire victims ran out of road while fleeing down dirt tracks to escape a deadly blaze in Spain
The remains of burned-out cars used by people who died while trying to escape deadly wildfires in Bedar, Almeria
Regional government chiefs have said they expect 11 of the 12 people known to have died so far will be identified as foreigners, ‘probably British and Belgians’.
In the early hours of Friday morning, a British couple were found alive down a ravine, with 40 per cent burns and semi-conscious.
The pair, who were feared dead, were rushed to hospital and have reportedly been transferred from a facility in Almeria to a specialist major burns unit in Seville.
Pedro Barre, one of the police officers who helped rescue them, said: ‘From the experience that builds up over time, there’s something that tells you: “Go back and look again, try one more time.”‘
‘We heard a very faint sound, very far away but thought initially it was an echo.’
Police specialists tried to identify the 12 people killed in the fire on Sunday – after post-mortems the previous day on their badly-burnt bodies failed to determine even their gender.
The High Court of Andalucia said late on Saturday night: ‘The Institute of Legal Medicine of Almería has already received the bodies of the twelve people who died in the Los Gallardos fire.
‘Autopsies have already been performed on all of them.
‘Throughout the late morning and afternoon, more bodies continued to arrive at the Institute of Legal Medicine, and the forensic experts were able to perform autopsies on all of them.
‘The biological samples collected from each of them were transported to Madrid by a Civil Guard helicopter at 7.30pm.
‘No one has yet been identified, and it is not currently possible to determine either the age or the sex of the deceased.
‘The Biology Department of the Civil Guard’s Criminalistics Service will analyse all the collected samples at its headquarters in Madrid in order to identify the bodies.
‘As for missing persons’ reports, five more were filed during the afternoon, bringing the total number of missing persons’ reports to seven.’
The wildfire comes as Spain swelters in a heatwave, with scorching temperatures triggering orange weather warnings
Two British tourists who became trapped in one of Spain’s worst ever wildfires have been found alive with 40 per cent burns, police said. Pictured: Los Gallardos, Spain, on July 9
Two burned-out cars at the El Pinar residential development in Los Gallardos following the wildfire
An INFOCA wildfire firefighter seen during the operations to stabilize the Los Gallardos wildfire
General view of a house surrounded by the wildfire
Several worried Brits took to social media over the weekend to say loved ones were missing and pleaded for information.
Danielle Gillan-Kirton said in an appeal she posted on expat Facebook sites: ‘My parents, Pete and Fran Gillam live in Bedar and we are trying to get in touch with them to make sure they are OK.
‘My mum texted me at 6.53pm on Thursday to say they were evacuating due to the wildfires. None of our messages or calls since have been successful.’
Another relative said further checks had been made with a council-run sports centres where many of the survivors had been evacuated, but the expat couple were not there and there have been no further updates overnight.
Elle Louise Warner, who hails from Harlow, Essex, but is now one of the 17,000 British nationals registered as living in Almeria, said in a social media post late last night: ‘Pete and Fran are wonderful patients of mine and this is heartbreaking.
‘If anyone knows anything, please get in touch! It is awful what is happening right now.’
It emerged the large number of Brits from Bedar and surrounding areas taken to alternative accommodation elsewhere included a group of seven women who jetted to Spain on Saturday for a hen do.
They had rented a farmhouse in Bedar for their sunshine getaway but instead ended up being taken by bus to the nearby coastal resort of Garrucha where the council is putting up people who have been evacuated from their homes.
They have now relocated to a hotel ahead of their return to the UK on Tuesday.
One of the women admitted: ‘We were travelling and hadn’t seen the news. We’re in shock. When we arrived and saw what was happening we were crying.’
Tourist Paul Tweddle and his wife Lesley, from Leicester, were evacuated from a tourist complex they were staying at to the Garrucha centre but are now in another hotel.
Paul told Spanish news website El Español: ‘This certainly wasn’t the holiday we were expecting, but these things happen.
‘We will return to Spain because we love it, and the truth is that the service we have received has been excellent.’
Confirming at least four British nationals appeared to be among the dead, Andalucia’s acting Regional Minister for Health, the Presidency and Emergencies Antonio Sanz said on Saturday: ‘Unfortunately the decision of some people to take evacuation routes that weren’t those indicated by the emergency services and take an alternative route became a mortal trap.
‘There were two scenarios like that specifically.
‘One was a vehicle in which four people died with everything pointing to them being of British origin.
‘Their steering wheel was on the other side to the side they normally are in Spain.
‘Then another seven people died in another scenario. They were walking and had abandoned their cars and were probably looking for a way out.
‘But they had taken a route which wasn’t the one indicated by the emergency services and the consequences have been terrible.’
In a subsequent press address, Mr Sanz said the seven people on foot could also include British nationals.
He said: ‘In that second scenario there were nine people and two managed to save themselves but seven died.
‘One appears to have been Spanish and the seven others could be foreigners, Belgians and British nationals.’
Bedar’s mayor Angel Francisco Collado Fernandez added on Saturday afternoon referencing the group of nine: ‘We insisted to the people that didn’t want to leave that they had to do so.
‘Fortunately one of those who decided to stay is still alive, recommending that the other nine neighbours take refuge in his home.
‘They didn’t take his advice and seven died and the other two suffered serious burns and are on their way to the Virgen del Rocio Hospital in Seville.’
Although 23 people were said on Saturday to be unaccounted for, Mr Sanz pointed out on Sunday only seven missing persons’ reports have been filed.
He also said Sunday represented the ‘first window of opportunity’ to move from a defensive strategy to one of direct attack against the devastating wildfire because of a change in the weather conditions including the wind strength.
The wildfire is one of Spain’s deadliest in recent years and comes as Europe continues to grapple with another intense summer heatwave, with temperatures regularly exceeding 40C.
The cause of the fire has not been confirmed, but has been linked to a fallen power line.
