British couple return to village at heart of deadly Spanish wildfire

At least 13 people, including five believed to be Britons, were killed by Thursday's wildfire in Spain's Almeria province.

As we climbed the winding road to Bédar, we emerged into a charred and desolate landscape. Molten car parts littered our path and out of the window we saw the whole hillside now coated in a dusty black. At least 13 people, including five believed to be Britons, were killed by Thursday's wildfire in Spain's Almeria province, one of the country's deadliest ever.

The toll rose on Sunday after a 93-year-old woman, believed to be British, died of her injuries in hospital. The identities of those killed have not yet been officially confirmed. The fire, which has now been contained, burned through about 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of land, authorities said.

The breadth of the damage on display was a vivid sign of the ferocity of the flames, which had been powered by winds of up to 50 km/h (31mph). 'This landscape is completely charred': Inside the town at the centre of Spanish wildfires But as we drove further into the village it dawned on us just how many of the bright white Andalusian homes had seemingly been spared. "This is our house and it survived," Emma Mitchell told us with a huge sigh of relief.

She pointed across the valley to a property ringed by darkened trees and vegetation. But her eyes filled as she described driving past friends' houses that had not been so lucky. The couple were among about 600 of the nearly 1,500 people evacuated from the fire zone in Almería province who were told they could return on Sunday.

Emma and her husband Simon moved three years ago to Bédar, where they looked after 15 chickens and spent time with their three dogs. "When I look over there and I see how close we were to disaster like some of those people, that is terrifying," she said. The Mitchells said they had never been given clear instructions on how they should flee in the case of a fire.

"Next time it would be good to get an alert on our phones. We get an alert for earthquakes that are 50 miles away but we don't get an alert for a fire that is a quarter of a kilometre away." We followed them back to their house where they found all of the chickens still alive.

The power and water were still working, too – despite the inferno that took hold around the house. The couple said the local police and firefighters had been outstanding. But Emma was particularly angry with those local officials who said some people who were killed – including Britons – had not followed instructions.

Addressing the authorities, she said: "You need to get your act sorted and please don't try and victim-blame afterwards. "These people that died, they had no instructions to follow, they did the best they could in the circumstances they could and they paid the price." Local officials have said previously they did not issue an alert on Thursday night because it may have reached people beyond the affected area and could have complicated evacuations.

Authorities have also said police went door-to-door or telephoned residents with instructions on how to shelter or evacuate safely. The Andalusian regional government and the Spanish Civil Guard police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is scheduled to visit the devastated area of Los Gallardos, home to many foreign residents, on Monday.

Among those caught up in the fire were a British couple, who were found down a ravine, badly burned and semi-conscious, local media reported. The pair are thought to have been out hiking as the blaze spread rapidly through the province on Thursday. They were evacuated and taken to hospital where they are in intensive care.

This is already among the deadliest wildfires in Spanish history. In 1984, 20 people died in a fire on the Canary Island of La Gomera, while in 1979, 21 people, including nine children, died in a forest fire near Lloret de Mar in north-eastern Spain. Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world, causing increased summer heatwaves and more intense wildfires.

Additional reporting by Kostas Kallergis, Juan Dominguez.