Spain wildfire: Firefighters gain ground as Almería evacuees return home

British hikers found badly burned by Spanish wildfire

Lucinda Curtois was cooling off in the pool of her vacation home outside Bédar, a green oasis in the desert of southern Spain popular with British and Belgian expatriates, when a neighbor stopped by with news of flames on a distant hillside.

The pair are believed to have been hiking when they became trapped by the blaze, which has claimed 12 lives and scorched more than 6,000 hectares of the southeastern Spanish province since Thursday.

The son of a Belgian man who died in a wildfire in Spain has disputed authorities' claims about the warnings issued.