They were almost swallowed by the smoke and darkness — then a last-minute decision by rescuers brought two British hikers back from the edge after wildfires tore through southern Spain.
The man and woman, who have not been identified, were found alive but badly burned, with injuries believed to cover 40% of their bodies, Spanish national broadcaster RTVE reported.
A civil guard team discovered the pair after returning to a stretch of terrain they had already searched, officers saying something told them they needed to go back and look once more.
The rescue came as the wider disaster continued to deepen: at least 13 people are believed to have died in the blaze near the village of Bedar, in Almeria province.
Speaking to RTVE, the officers said they reached the two British people just as night was falling — a moment when visibility drops and survival becomes even harder to judge in scorched, uneven ground.
Sergeant Pedro Barre told the broadcaster: “That experience we accumulate over the years is what tells you: take another look, give it one last try, check again just in case.”
Barre said the rescuers called out and blew whistles into the fading light, searching for any sign of movement until they finally picked up a sound that, at first, they feared might only be an echo.
Rafael Zea, another member of the rescue team, said the couple’s condition suggested it would have taken a “Titanic effort” for them to raise their voices loudly enough to be heard.
With firefighters and emergency crews supporting the operation, the two were brought to safety after more than two hours.
Both are now reported to be in a serious condition in hospital, though officials do not believe their lives are in danger.
Spanish authorities have said they believe all of the dead were foreign tourists, thought to have tried to escape on foot after apparently abandoning their vehicles and attempting to push through rugged terrain.
Antonio Sanz, the head of Andalusia’s emergency services, previously said post-mortem examinations had been completed and DNA samples taken as part of the effort to identify the victims.
In response to the fast-moving fires, authorities carried out precautionary evacuations of 1,448 people from around 11 areas.
Spain has endured increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves in recent years, with temperatures often climbing above 40C, conditions that can leave vegetation tinder-dry and fires difficult to contain.
In June, the country recorded several days of unprecedented heat, with more than 1,000 excess deaths attributed to high temperatures.
