Firefighters in Spain’s southeastern Almería province would start to beat back one of the country’s deadliest wildfires on Saturday, an emergency services chief said, though more villages had been evacuated as a precaution overnight.
Fanned by winds, the fire spread rapidly on Friday, engulfing victims as they tried to flee. Autopsies have been conducted on all 12 bodies recovered from close to the forested district of Bédar north of Los Gallardos where the fire broke out, though the victims’ identities are yet to be confirmed.
Antonio Sanz, head of emergencies in the Andalusia region, told reporters at the emergency zone cordon that the wildfire remained “complex” and continued to advance, but applauded firefighters’ work in stopping it from crossing the highway towards the more heavily populated coastal towns.
“So far we have been engaged in defense work, to prevent advances,” he said. “Today is the first day we will be able to work on attacking the fire.”
Most of those killed are thought to be British and Belgian nationals, along with one Spaniard. Eight people were injured in the fire, four of them severely, and remain in hospital in Seville.
“No one has been identified yet, nor is it possible at this time to determine the age or sex of the deceased,” the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Almería said in a statement late on Friday.
It said samples had been transferred to Madrid for further analysis and comparison with DNA samples provided by families.
Authorities have played down the likelihood of a major increase in the death toll, saying the number of people formally reported by families as missing was seven, compared to 23 that had been reported informally by Friday.
