All Britons safe amid Spanish fires

Firefighters work to control a raging forest fire as trees are engulfed in flames next to a road in Ojen, southern Spain
2 September 2012

All British expats and holidaymakers caught up in wildfires in southern Spain have been accounted for, sources say.

Firefighters have been battling blazes in the Costa Del Sol region since Friday morning, and thousands of people were forced to flee their homes.

Military personnel were drafted in to help as planes and helicopters dumped water over the flames near the popular tourist towns of Malaga and Marbella in Andalucia.

The Spanish authorities are now understood to have brought the fires under control, though some patches of flames remain.

Around 300 British nationals were relocated to shelters on Friday, but none stayed overnight in the temporary accommodation.

There were unconfirmed reports that a 78-year-old Briton had been killed, but the Foreign Office said it was not aware of any British casualties.

A spokesman said: "There are no reports that any British nationals have died."

Two Britons were treated in hospital for minor injuries - thought to be smoke inhalation - but they did not stay overnight.

Expat John Taylor, who lives in Calahonda, said the windy conditions made the fire more ferocious than ones that have hit in previous years, but the authorities dealt with them very well.

He told Sky News: "It came through much more viciously on this occasion, and much more frightening for those people on the top of Calahonda in the apartment blocks up there."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in