Rescuers search for Spanish wildfire survivors as woman issues plea for help over missing parents

Emergency crews and relatives are working to find survivors after Spain's worst wildfire for more than two decades killed 11 people.

Nineteen people remain unaccounted for following the blaze in the Andalusia region, including couple Pete and Fran Gillam.

Their daughter, Danielle Gillam-Kirton, said her mother sent a text at 6.53pm on Thursday saying the couple were evacuating their home in Bedar.

But the family has been unable to contact them since then.

In a Facebook post, Ms Gillam-Kirton wrote: "We still have not made contact."

She said people had checked Garrucha and Pozo del Esparto, while someone had also told the family the couple were not with the emergency services in Lubrin.

"We have notified the guardia at Garrucha that they are missing but please keep sharing in case there is somewhere they could be that we have missed," she added.

The family believes that the couple may have travelled to Lubrin or Los Gallardos.

Ms Gillam-Kirton said a friend had contacted the Guardia Civil and hospitals, but had been unable to find them.

Four British people are feared to be among those killed in the fire, which broke out around Los Gallardos in Almeria province, and particularly affected the nearby hamlet of Bedar.

One British woman living in Spain described her concern for her village of El Pinar after she was evacuated due to the wildfire that has been ravaging parts of Almeria province in southern Spain since Thursday.

Sally Steele, from Derby, has been living in Spain for 19 years and said she has "never experienced anything like this before".

"Someone took a video inside the village; the houses look ok. But the surrounding landscape has totally gone, black and charred, but until we get in, we don't know the status of the houses," she said.

She has had to move twice as the fire expanded since leaving home and is now staying with her daughter in Los Gallardos and doesn't know when she can return home.

"I think that first drive back to the village will be very overwhelming for people. We're worried that people will come up to the village and want to look [at the aftermath] which makes us feel vulnerable."

Ms Steele, whose son and daughter also live in Spain, praised the efforts of the local authorities, who have been informing locals on social media and providing shelter and food.

Antonio Sanz Cabello, president of the Andalusian emergency agency, described the blaze as "the most devastating fire to date in our region", and an "unprecedented tragedy".

Around 150 firefighters were battling the fire in the early hours of Friday morning.

Officials said the blaze spread extremely quickly through a wooded area.

Mr Cabello said four people were found dead in one car, and were thought to be British because the vehicle had a right-hand steering wheel.

"Everything seems to indicate that they're from Britain," he said.

Seven other people were found dead after apparently leaving their vehicles and trying to escape on foot along a route that was not part of the evacuation plan.

"The decision to take another route instead of the designated evacuation route became a fatal trap," Mr Cabello said.

Authorities have not confirmed the cause of the fire, but people who reported it said a fallen power line had sparked a blaze which spread rapidly into nearby forest.

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Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he felt "enormous sadness" over the fire, and offered his condolences to the families of those killed.

He said emergency services, security forces and the military had been mobilised, and urged residents to exercise caution.

(c) Sky News 2026: Rescuers search for Spanish wildfire survivors as woman issues plea for help over missing pa