Two people have been arrested after allegedly ignoring evacuation orders and returning to an area threatened by the deadly Los Gallardos wildfire.
The pair are accused of disobeying Guardia Civil officers and resisting the authorities during the emergency operation in Almeria, where the blaze has killed at least 12 people.
Raul Aguilera, a spokesman for the Guardia Civil in Almeria, said the suspects disregarded instructions from officers before re-entering a high-risk area that had already been evacuated because of the advancing flames.
The arrests come as officers continue painstaking house-to-house searches around Bedar amid fears that further victims could still be found.
Aguilera said the fire’s advance in that area had been particularly sudden and unexpected, meaning the authorities could not yet rule out discovering more casualties.
Teams have divided the affected countryside into separate search zones and are checking every home, farmhouse and isolated rural property.
Once officers have confirmed that nobody is inside a building, it is marked to prevent other teams from searching it again.
Areas north of the AL-6101 road between Los Gallardos and Vera have already been combed, while searches are continuing in places where the fire behaved most unpredictably.
Aguilera said he was not aware of any further bodies having been discovered so far.
The operation has been complicated by the large number of detached homes and cortijos scattered across the affected countryside, many of which are located considerable distances from their nearest neighbours.
Officers are also working across completely scorched terrain where dangerously high residual temperatures remain following the passage of the flames.
The Guardia Civil believes that ‘many more’ than 10 homes may have been affected by the wildfire.
At least 12 people have been confirmed dead in the disaster, while seven formal missing-person reports remained active on Saturday.
A wider group initially described as unaccounted for is being checked by the authorities as relatives and emergency teams attempt to establish their whereabouts.
The blaze has burned approximately 6,600 hectares and forced more than 1,400 people to leave their homes, according to the latest official figures.
More than 500 emergency personnel have been deployed as firefighters attempt to bring its most active fronts under control.
