By Nina Lopez and Emma Pinedo
BEDAR, Spain July 13 (Reuters) – Nine victims of one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires on record have been identified, authorities said on Monday, as forensic teams continued efforts to confirm the identities of three others through DNA analysis.
The latest three victims identified on Monday include a married couple of Belgian origin and a woman from the United Kingdom.
In total, the victims of the fire identified so far are four men and five women, of whom eight are foreigners and one is a Spaniard, authorities said.
Of the 13 people who died – including a 93-year-old British woman who perished from burn injuries on Sunday in a hospital – five were from the United Kingdom, three from Belgium and one from France, as well as one Spanish national. All of them were adults.
The blaze has scorched about 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres).
Among the Belgian victims was Stanislas Verdonckt, a 63-year-old businessman, who had attempted to flee the area via a mountain track but was engulfed by flames, his sister, Sophie Vandebroek, said in an email. His dog Schubi was also found close to his body, she said.
Spain’s deadliest wildfire in more than four decades trapped residents in a rugged area with scattered homes as they attempted to escape the flames on Thursday night.
Spain and much of Southern Europe face increasingly severe wildfire seasons that scientists have linked to climate change. Experts say unusually heavy spring rainfall this year spurred vegetation growth across parts of southern Spain, creating abundant fuel that later dried out in extreme summer heat, helping the fire spread rapidly.
Relatives had filed 10 reports of missing people. Authorities said that some of those reports match some of the victims identified but did not specify how many.
Investigators said DNA analysis remains the only viable primary identification method because of the condition of the remains.
Andalusia’s regional government on Monday lowered the wildfire alert to the pre-emergency phase after the blaze was stabilised, evacuation orders lifted and residents were allowed to return to their homes.
The regional chief Juan Manuel Moreno told reporters in the evening that the fire seemed to be “under control.”
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Aislinn Laing; additional reporting by Jesús Aguado; Editing by Charlie Devereux, Hugh Lawson and Mark Porter)
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