By Ben Pawlowski and Alessio Ghirlanda
A DESPERATE search is continuing for an American woman feared to have died in the horror Almeria wildfire – the deadliest to hit Andalucia since records began.
Ana Sims, a photographer originally from Nebraska, remains missing alongside her husband, Pedro Rodriguez, a retired Spanish geologist from Huelva.
The couple, both believed to be in their early 70s, had been married for many years and lived in the popular expat village of Bedar, in Almeria province.
Friends say they last heard from the pair on Thursday when they sent a series of panicked text messages as a fast-moving blaze tore through the surrounding area, killing at least 13 people and leaving dozens more unaccounted for.
Multiple sources have told the Olive Press that emergency services discovered two charred bodies beside a burnt-out car believed to belong to the couple.
Tragically, their home is understood to have escaped the flames, raising fears they perished while trying to flee the advancing wildfire.
The pair remain officially listed as missing until formal identification is completed, with a missing personas file open.
But sources close to the couple said the grim discovery has left friends and family with little doubt over their fate.
It is understood the Guardia Civil also fear they are among the victims.
Their DNA has been sent to Madrid to assist with identification.
Friends in Bedar are now planning to install a memorial plaque in their honour.
The inferno erupted on Thursday evening near Los Gallardos after a power line apparently fell to the ground beside the N-340A road, igniting a patch of dry vegetation.
Driven by soaring temperatures and winds of up to 50km/h, the blaze spread at a devastating speed of around 100 metres per minute through surrounding woodland towards Bedar, forcing the evacuation of around 1,000 residents.
Local officials said several victims attempted to escape via a dry riverbed rather than following the recommended evacuation route and subsequently became trapped by the flames.
Among them were four victims, believed to be British, who were found dead inside a right-hand-drive vehicle.
Bedar mayor Francisco Collado said the victims included one Spaniard and British and Belgian nationals living in the area, which has a large northern European expat community.
“I knew them all personally. They were very active in the social and cultural life of the village. I even married some of them,” Collado told El Pais, recalling how he went door-to-door warning residents as the flames approached.
The wildfire was finally brought under control by firefighters over the weekend.
“We can report the good news, that this devastating, difficult and terrible fire, as we have experienced, has been stabilised,” regional president Juanma Moreno said from the forward command post in Turre on Sunday morning.
According to Moreno, the blaze has been fully contained within a secure perimeter after scorching more than 7,000 hectares of land.
That breakthrough has allowed authorities to downgrade the emergency level and permit the phased return of evacuated residents to their homes.
Moreno said the bodies of those who perished in the flames have not yet been identified, with the work of DNA identification proving complex.
On Saturday, samples of human remains were transferred from Andalucia to Madrid, where they will undergo further forensic analysis.
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