Spanish wildfire victims burned in cars as roads turned into death traps

Highlights:

• Authorities confirmed 12 deaths and said 23 people remain missing
• Four people died in one car, Andalusia emergency chief Sanz said
• Eight others died after abandoning cars and trying to escape on foot, Sanz said

As a wildfire tore across the mountains towards them, panicked residents in rural Andalusian villages around Los Gallardos in southern Spain faced an impossible choice — shelter in place and endure the choking smoke, or take their chances and flee.

At least 12 went against the advice of local mayors and police who went door to door asking them to stay put, opting to flee by car from Bédar — a village that mostly escaped the flames — and instead driving right into them.

Four people, who appeared to be British because the steering wheel of their car was on the right-hand side, died in one vehicle, regional disaster chief Antonio Sanz said. Eight others were found scattered in the fire's blackened path after apparently abandoning their vehicles and attempting to escape on foot.

A press photograph from the area shows four burned-out cars sitting on a mountain track. Regional President Juanma Moreno said authorities had originally confirmed 11 were dead but later discovered one body entirely covered by another.

"Please always follow the authorities' recommendations - always, please... because in this type of fire, the wind changes so the fire might come at you from the south and then it might shift in another direction," Moreno told reporters at the scene.

Most of those killed were likely foreign nationals living in the area, including Britons and Belgians, Sanz said.

"The village of Bédar in the end wasn't affected by the flames in most cases so that order to shelter in place avoided a more serious situation," he added.

As well as 12 dead, 23 people are still missing in one of Spain's deadliest wildfires.

Door-to-door

Moreno confirmed on Friday that no text alert had been sent to residents in the villages above Los Gallardos where the fire broke out, since the advice was different according to where they were living in the mountainous, wooded terrain, and the fast-moving situation.

Instead, local mayors and police went door to door, or rang residents, either indicating a safe route along which to evacuate or instructing them to shelter in place.

Ángel Collado, the mayor of Bédar, the village from which those killed had fled, said he had "acted from the very first moment, knocking on every door and getting residents out", or telling them to stay, depending on the evolution of the fire at the time.

"Even those who did not want to leave, we insisted that they had to evacuate," he told reporters in an emotional account.

In Bédar, he said he had unsuccessfully begged a group of nine people preparing to leave to shelter in place. Instead, seven of them were killed trying to escape, he said.

Those who died had also not followed the indicated route. Sanz said they had taken another way out via a dry riverbed, which turned out to be a trap.

From a makeshift rescue centre in a funeral home in the neighbouring village of Lubín, Francisco, another resident of Bédar, said police had told him to stay in his house as the fire approached and had him keep the phone line open.

"They told me: 'Francisco, don't hang up, we need to stay in touch. When the fire has died down a bit, we'll come and get you'," he told La Voz de Almeria newspaper.

In the meantime, they tried to protect themselves as best they could.

"We smashed the glass in a large window. We locked the front door and took refuge in the garage. We waited there for about two hours," he said.

They were eventually evacuated, although they still do not know the condition of their home.

Roads blocked by fire

Sonia, a Spanish woman living in Los Gallardos who declined to give her last name, said that she had taken in relatives after the authorities had told them to evacuate at 7 pm (1700 GMT).

She said that they had been told to avoid the main route out of Bédar, driving out on a back route further up into the mountains before doubling back towards the coast.

"The road from Bédar to Los Gallardos was blocked, since the fire had crossed the road and it was impassable."

As authorities searched for the missing, anxious relatives from around the world posted messages on social media and local forums.

One woman in the United States posted a message to the local emergency services saying her brother had been among a group of 10 people who tried to escape by car, sharing the coordinates and asking emergency services to check for him.