Spanish firefighters turn to the offensive against deadly Almeria blaze

LOS GALLARDOS, July 11 - 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.

'IT WAS A MATTER OF MINUTES'

More than 1,400 people had been evacuated by late Friday as the wildfire continued to burn near Los Gallardos, with precautionary evacuations in several communities around Bédar.

Over 500 firefighters and emergency workers are involved in the firefighting effort, including regional firefighters and soldiers, and 19 specialists from a national firefighting brigade.

Emergency officials said crews were concentrating their efforts on the western flank of the blaze where the fire remains most intense and is spreading fastest. So far, 6,600 hectares have been burned by the fire.

"The night has passed relatively well, within the complexity and dimensions of the fire. The fronts have remained less active and no new direct threats to inhabited areas have occurred," said Sanz.

Meanwhile, those confronted by the fire on Friday told of their horror at how fast it spread — at one stage covering 15 kilometres in two hours, according to the regional president.

The parish priest of Bédar and Los Gallardos, Víctor Manuel Fernández, said he had gone to a neighbouring village to celebrate Mass. "You could see smoke but far away, in a corner of the municipality," he said.

"I figured they would put it out because our firefighters always react very rapidly. But when we came out of the Mass there was a cloud of black smoke and looking up at the mountains, the flames were devouring everything. It was a matter of minutes." REUTERS