Day-trippers confess to starting deadly forest blaze

A GROUP of day-trippers have confessed to starting the blaze that killed 11 firefighters in central Spain in the country’s worst firefighting loss in years.

The group of 10 told the Civil Guard that their barbecue in a nature reserve of pine woodland in the Guadalajara province east of Madrid ignited the fire, said Carmen Vallejo, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry of the Castilla y La Mancha region.

Only the person who ignited the barbecue faces formal charges pending further investigation, she said.