A BRITISH couple have been rescued in critical condition after becoming trapped at the bottom of a ravine during the deadly wildfires in Andalucia’s Almeria province.
The pair, who have not been named, are believed to have been hiking when the fast-moving inferno closed in on Thursday, leaving them with no escape.
They were airlifted to hospital where they were admitted in intensive care with life-threatening injuries.
The blaze, which has now been brought under control, killed at least 13 people and scorched around 70 square kilometres of countryside.
Four of the victims are believed to be Britons, while a 93-year-old woman who died from her injuries in hospital on Sunday was identified by Spanish media as a British national.
Officials have yet to formally identify those who lost their lives.
The British couple were discovered by Guardia Civil officers combing the devastated landscape for survivors near the hard-hit village of Bedar in the early hours of Friday.
Sergeant Pedro Barre said the breakthrough came when rescuers caught the faint sound of cries for help.
“As you gain more experience, something inside you tells you, ‘Look again, try one more time,'” he told TVE.
Following the desperate calls, the rescue team scrambled down the steep hillside and found the couple clinging to life.
Both were semi-conscious and had suffered severe burns to around 40% of their bodies.
“Being able to call out in the condition they were in was a titanic effort,” said fellow officer Rafael Zea.
“We’ll never forget that look of surprise and emotion on their faces,” Barre added.
The wildfire, the deadliest in Andalucia since records began, erupted on Thursday evening near Los Gallardos after a power line apparently fell to the ground beside the N-340A road and ignited a patch of dry vegetation.
Driven by extreme temperatures and winds of up to 50km/h, the fire spread rapidly through nearby woodland towards Bedar, forcing the evacuation of around 1,000 people.
“Everything indicates that the deceased are, mostly or entirely, foreign nationals,” said Antonio Sanz, Andalucia’s minister for health and emergencies.
Local officials say some of those who died had sought “their own way out” through a dry riverbed instead of taking a recommended evacuation route and became trapped by the flames.
That includes four victims, believed to be Brits, who were found deceased in a car with the steering wheel on the right-hand side.
Another victim is understood to be a French woman who moved to Bedar with her husband just two days before the deadly blaze struck, according to Spanish newspaper El Español.
The mayor of Bedar said one of the victims was Spanish but the remainder were British and Belgium nationals who had moved to the area, which has a foreign majority and is popular with northern European expats.
“I knew them all personally. They were very active in the social and cultural life of the village. I even married some of them,” said Francisco Collado, who told El Pais how he went door-to-door to warn residents as the wildfire approached.
Hundreds of firefighters are still battling to contain the flames, with around 6,600 hectares of the land scorched by the fire, according to officials.
The wildfire is the deadliest to hit Andalucia since records began, with authorities warning that the death toll could increase in the coming days as victims are identified.
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