Get you up to speed: Number of British people killed in Spain wildfires rises to five | News World
Five British nationals have been confirmed dead due to the wildfires in Bedar, Almeria, Spain, following the identification of additional victims. Thirteen people have died in total, with three British individuals reported to have survived with serious burns.
The Civil and Investigating Section of the Vera Court of First Instance has confirmed that nine of the victims have been identified, including eight foreign nationals and one Spanish citizen. Authorities are expected to release the identities of the remaining victims later today, as investigations into the wildfires continue.
Spanish officials confirmed that five British citizens were among the 13 fatalities from the wildfires in Almeria, with identification of remaining victims expected soon. The High Court of Andalucia stated that authorities are working to identify the remaining casualties, while three British survivors have been airlifted to a specialist burns unit in Seville for treatment.
What remains unclear — The identities of the last three victims of the wildfires have not yet been confirmed.
Five British victims confirmed dead in Spain wildfires amid ongoing identifications
Spanish officials have confirmed that five British people have been killed in the wildfires after the identification of more victims.
Another three people were identified yesterday afternoon and officials said one was from the UK.
The identities of the last three of the 13 victims remain unconfirmed, but that is expected to change later today.
Earlier, police said a 93-year-old woman who died in hospital was British and three of the first six identified through DNA tests and matches with loved ones were also from the UK.
The deadly Los Gallardos wildfires in Bedar in the Almeria ripped through thousands of acres of land and forced people to flee (Picture: Getty Images)
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British pensioner Malcolm Timbrell, 70, living in Bedar with his wife Annette Kilgore, made the split-second decision to return to their home to pick up their cats, Charlie and Lilly.
When he returned to his wife and a group of friends and neighbours, they were out of their cars with a fast-moving wall of fire approaching them, Mr Timbrell told the BBC.
He took cover in a car, but the rest of the group ‘had no chance,’ he said.
Malcolm Timbrell, 70, survived the fire in Bedar with two pet cats, but his wife Annette Kilgrove (right), 69, is feared to have died with 12 neighbours and friends when a wall of flames engulfed them
The forest fire victims include expat couple Pete and Fran Gillam, whose Sheffield-based daughter Danielle Gillam-Kirton had flown to Spain from her home in the UK after they failed to respond to her messages and public appeals for information on their whereabouts.
She said in a Facebook post yesterday: ‘Natalie Gillam Lindsay and I are heartbroken to share that we have received confirmation from the police that Mum and Dad did not survive the fire.
‘We are still trying to come to terms with this devastating news and ask for some privacy and time as we process everything.
‘Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers over the past few days. They have meant more to us than we can ever express.
‘We will share further details when we are able.’
Eerie scene in Bedar where the burned landscape is dotted with the signs for villas, the only items to have survived the flames (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Wildfires in Spain
The devastating wildfire started last Thursday in Los Gallardos in the south-east Spanish province of Almeria before spreading to neighbouring Bedar where many UK pensioners live.
Confirming the number of British victims had risen to five yesterday evening, the High Court of Andalucia said: ‘During the course of the afternoon, the identification of three more victims of the Los Gallardos fire has been completed. In this case, they are a married couple of Belgian origin and a woman from the United Kingdom.
A villa survived the flames tearing around it in the rugged terrain of Bedar, Almeria (Picture: AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)
‘With these three latest identifications, there would be three of the thirteen victims caused by the fire still to be identified, since the British woman who died in the hospital did not need to be identified.
‘The Civil and Investigating Section of the Vera Court of First Instance, Court No. 3, which is responsible for the removal of the bodies, has already confirmed the nine identifications.
‘In total, the victims of the fire identified so far are four men and five women, eight of whom are foreign nationals and one Spanish.
The scale of devastation in southern Spain after one of the worst forest fires the country has experienced (Picture: Reuters)
‘Of the thirteen people who died—one of them in the hospital—five were from the United Kingdom, three from Belgium, one from France, and one was a Spanish citizen. All of them were adults.
‘The first six identifications of the victims of the Los Gallardos fire took place this morning. Among those identified were a married couple in which the husband was Spanish and the wife was a citizen of the United Kingdom.
‘A man and a woman from the United Kingdom, a woman from France, and a man from Belgium have also been identified.
‘The victims’ families have already been notified in these nine cases. The notification is carried out in person by uniformed officers of the Guardia Civil accompanied by a psychologist.
Another three Brits who suffered serious burns but survived are believed to be among the four patients airlifted to a specialist burns unit at a hospital in Seville.
A British couple miraculously survived the flames after becoming trapped in a ravine during a hike.
Rescuers found them semi-conscious and with 40% burns on their bodies, but alive near Bedar.
WTX has approached the Foreign Office for a comment.
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