(Corrects the nationality of Sonia in paragraph 6 to reflect she is a Spanish citizen, not British)
MADRID, July 10 (Reuters) – As flames approached their homes and the smoke-filled air became choking, panicked residents in rural Andalusian villages around Los Gallardos in southern Spain chose to flee — a decision some paid for with their lives.
Firefighters on Friday were still trying to contain one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires, with a total of 11 people confirmed dead, while 19 more are missing.
Authorities told some residents of areas in the mountains above Los Gallardos to evacuate via a recommended route, while residents of the forested hamlet of Bedar were told to shelter in place.
However, as the flames rapidly approached, Antonio Rubio, a handyman living in Bedar, said the smoke had made it impossible to shelter in place.
“We left the house yesterday (Thursday) afternoon at 5 o’clock. The fire didn’t reach my house – it stopped just short of it – but we could already see so much smoke, even though the fire was some distance away, so we had to leave,” he said. “We did so of our own accord.”
Sonia, a Spanish woman living in Los Gallardos who declined to give her last name, said that she had taken in relatives as the authorities had told them to evacuate at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT).
She said that they had been told to avoid the main route out of Bedar, driving out on a back route further up into the mountains instead before doubling back towards the coast.
“There are many houses in the middle of the countryside in the mountains, so people would take whichever roads they could,” she said.
“The road from Bédar to Los Gallardos was blocked, since the fire had crossed the road and it was impassable.”
SHELTERING IN PLACE SAVED LIVES
Antonio Sanz, head of emergencies in the Andalusia region, said residents of Bedar had been told either to take a recommended evacuation route, or stay in their homes given that the fire was so close.
“In situations like this, it is essential that we all follow the routes indicated,” he said. “Unfortunately in this instance a decision was taken to use another route that wasn’t the one recommended for evacuation. Looking for another way out via a dry riverbed turned out to be a trap.”
Four people, whom he said appeared to be British as the steering wheel of their car was on the right-hand side, died in one vehicle, Sanz said, while seven others were found dead after apparently abandoning their cars to try to escape on foot.
Ten of the victims appeared to be foreign nationals, while one Spaniard has been confirmed dead, he said.
“The village of Bedar 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.
In the early hours of Friday, as the authorities sought to identify those dead and track down 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 through a valley next to a stream, sharing the coordinates and asking emergency services to check for him.
The regional President Juanma Moreno said the instinct to flee was understandable. “When many people see a fire, the first thing they do is run away, don’t they? And of course, they think they know the routes but if they don’t have the right information, those routes can of course turn into a death trap.”
(Reporting by Corina Pons and Aislinn Laing, writing by Aislinn Laing; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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