Specialists work to identify bodies found in Los Gallardos fire in Almeria

Almeria fire

Worried relatives, among them several Brits, try to contact loved ones feared missing in the fire as firefighters continue to tackle the blaze

Gerard Couzens

Police specialists will try to identify the 12 people killed in the devastating Almeria wildfire this Sunday - after post-mortems on Saturday on their badly burnt bodies failed to determine even their gender.

Unspecified biological samples taken from the victims were flown by police helicopter to Madrid on Saturday night so they could be analysed at a specialist Guardia Civil lab.

Officials have so far declined to comment on reports that three minors were among them.

Overnight haunting pictures emerged of the gutted vehicle four British nationals are believed to have died in after they were trapped by flames as they tried to evacuate the area.

The burnt shell of the right-hand drive Honda Accord, still smelling of scorched tyres, was one of a convoy of six cars and a motorbike abandoned in the same spot on a dirt track on a hillside near Bédar where the mass loss of life occurred.

Five were skeletal wrecks and only two cars were still in one piece although their paintwork had been damaged by the high fire temperatures.

One charred chassis had been left in the opposite direction to the rest, appearing to indicate the terrified driver had made a desperate attempt to turn back and leave the way he had come after unintentionally heading into a wall of flames.

A witness who managed to access the area said: “It looks like the devil has passed through here.”

More than 500 firefighters were continuing to tackle the devastating blaze on Sunday morning as it emerged the number of people evacuated from their homes had risen to just over 1,400.

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".

Four people with serious burns were airlifted to a hospital in Seville on Saturday but their ages and nationalities have not yet been revealed.

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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 Guardia Civil 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.”

British woman in hospital

A British woman is among the four people being treated for burns at a specialist hospital unit in Seville.

She was airlifted to the city’s Virgen del Rocio University Hospital on Friday from a medical centre in Almeria where she was taken initially after being “seriously injured” in Thursday’s devastating wildfire in the municipalities of Bédar and Los Gallardos.

Wellwishers have said her husband and the British Embassy are aware.

But one friend said: “He has not been able to speak to her as she has been heavily sedated."

Another in an online post added in a direct message to the injured Brit: “You are a strong woman with many of us praying for you.”

It was not immediately clear on Saturday what the extent of her injuries are, although the Seville hospital’s major burns unit serves as a premier reference centre within Spain’s national health system.

The nationalities of the other three people airlifted to the same hospital yesterday, and their ages, is not yet known.

Worried loved ones

Several worried Brits have taken to social media to say loved ones were missing and plead for information.

Danielle Gillam-Kirton said in an appeal she posted on expat Facebook sites: “My parents, Pete and Fran Gillam live in Bédar 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 later checks had been made at council-run sports centres 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.”

Mortal trap

Confirming at least four British nationals appeared to be among the dead, Andalucía's acting health and emergencies minister Antonio Sanz said yesterday: “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, 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 Ángel Francisco Collado Fernández added yesterday 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 Rocío Hospital in Seville.”

Although 23 people were said yesterday to be unaccounted for, Sanz pointed out that only seven missing persons’ reports have been filed.

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.

Change of plans

The large number of Brits from Bédar and surrounding areas taken to alternative accommodation elsewhere included a group of seven women who jetted to Spain 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.”