Human remains recovered from victims of the devastating Los Gallardos wildfire have been flown to Madrid for DNA testing.

It comes as authorities work to formally identify the dead following Spain’s worst forest fire in years.

The Guardia Civil confirmed that biological samples from all 12 victims arrived in the capital on Friday evening and have been transferred to the force’s Department of Biology within its Criminalistics Service.

The force released footage showing the samples being flown in on a Guardia Civil helicopter before being unloaded on the heliport.

The identification process comes after forensic pathologists in Almeria completed post-mortem examinations on the victims, but the severity of the fire meant DNA testing was required to confirm their identities.

The wildfire, which erupted near Los Gallardos on Thursday, has claimed at least 12 lives, making it one of the deadliest in Andalucia’s history.

Many of the victims are believed to have been trapped while trying to flee the flames, with several bodies found inside burned-out vehicles.

Authorities have previously indicated that some of those killed are thought to be foreign nationals, including people believed to be British, although formal identification has not yet been completed.

Search teams continue to comb the burned landscape around Bedar and Los Gallardos amid fears more victims could still be discovered.

Guardia Civil officers are carrying out painstaking house-to-house searches, checking isolated homes and rural properties one by one before marking each building as cleared.

The blaze has burned around 6,600 hectares, forced more than 1,400 people from their homes and left dozens of properties damaged or destroyed.

More than 500 emergency personnel remain deployed as firefighters continue working to bring the fire fully under control.