Briton tells of surviving Spain wildfire in car as wife and friends died trying to run to safety

A British man whose wife and 12 friends and neighbours are feared to have been killed in the Spanish wildfires has told how he became separated from them as the flames raced towards his home.

Malcolm Timbrell, 70, and his wife Annette Kilgore, 69, lived in the village of Bédar, in Almeria province, which was consumed by flames last Thursday evening, leaving 13 people dead.

The devastated survivor spoke to the BBC outside his destroyed home high on the hillside.

“You’d never imagine it could happen,” he said. “And when it does, and you’re the only survivor, then you’re left in a situation of, ‘What can I do?'”

He and Annette had found their property when they appeared on the Channel 4 programme A Place in the Sun.

“She was such a happy, outgoing person,” Malcolm said of his partner of 17 years. “We have had an amazing life together – and now it’s stopped.”

Thursday’s wildfire is among the deadliest in Spanish history. It spread quickly, tearing through Bédar, leaving Malcolm, Annette and their friends having to make the quick decision to flee.

As the flames – aided by strong winds – neared their property on Thursday, the couple and their neighbours decided to try escape by car.

But Malcolm chose to head back to their house for their cats, Charlie and Lilly.

“If we’d have done the sensible thing and gone the other way and let our cats die, we both would be alive. But when you’ve got animals, you don’t think like that.”

With both cats secured, Malcolm says he attempted to catch up with the group – but saw they were now out of their vehicles.

“My wife and our other seven friends and neighbours – against me screaming at them not to – decided the only safe way was to walk out in front of the firewall.

“I’ve subsequently heard that that fire wall was moving at 20 kilometres per hour, plus. They had no chance.”

Finding himself on his own in the chaotic situation, Malcolm said he attempted to take refuge in the now-abandoned cars: “Of the six cars, four of them instantly combusted and as each one started to go, I moved back one car.

“For some reason of fate, the last two cars, although very, very badly singed and paint bubbled and burnt, survived.

“And I survived inside the last one with a cat.”

The flames eventually passed by and Malcolm was rescued by emergency workers.

However the bodies of eight people were subsequently discovered on a path down from the couple’s house.

There are still four large scorch marks where four vehicles were discovered burnt out.

Local authorities have said four more victims of the fire, recovered in a right hand drive vehicle, were thought to be British.

Not all of those killed in the wildfire have yet been identified, but Spanish authorities have said that three Britons and one national each from France, Belgium and Spain were among the victims.

One of them was a 93-year-old woman, believed to be British, who died of her injuries in hospital on Sunday.

Many British expats in the village of Bedar have criticised the lack of a mobile phone alert – but Malcolm did not want to apportion blame.

Local authorities “didn’t have time to get the seaplanes here before dark,” he said, adding: “The helicopters couldn’t get up because of the smoke.”

With high winds, dry land and soaring temperatures, Malcolm believed there could not have been a worse combination.

“It’s nobody’s fault. Nobody can be blamed for this.”

Malcolm says he has been overwhelmed by the support of friends of all nationalities.

He and Annette moved to Spain after many years sailing together. They had each previously lost their partners to terminal illnesses and shared a love of travel and making new friends.

The couple had hoped to live out their final years together in the tranquillity of the Andalusian countryside.

“There’s just that little spark of hope, even though I know a body has been found clutching a cat. Hard cold facts are pointing to the bodies they’ve found.”

Malcolm said the local police have also been a huge help and have been keeping him up to date with their work.

But he fears what will happen in the coming days as the magnitude of his loss hits him.

“So we are just waiting now for DNA clarification. And after that, I will probably just fall apart.”

Additional reporting by Kostas Kallergis and Juan Dominguez