Civil war bones found among ashes following southern Catalonia wildfire

The remains of soldiers who fought in the Spanish civil war (1936-1939) continue to resurface in the southern Catalonia town of Corbera d'Ebre almost a year after a devastating wildfire affected over 400 hectares. 

The area was the site of one of the longest and bloodiest battles towards the end of the war, the Battle of the Ebre, and locals have also found cans, bullets, and shrapnel that are evidence of the combats that took place in the area. Other findings include explosives and even wartime defensive structures.

One of the locals who has found numerous bone fragments is Esteve Corbella, who has also called on authorities to take action to preserve them.

"In August 1938, the Garibaldi Brigades were stationed here, formed almost entirely of Italians, and they put up a strong resistance against the Francoist troops, but they ended up practically all dead," Corbella said to the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

Corbella believes authorities should inspect the area before carrying out works to clear the burned wood as this could endanger the remains.

"At the moment, they're working on extracting the wood burned in the fire, and they're working on top of these bones. If they don't do an inspection of what might be there before carrying out the work, they will end up damaged," he said.

After locating over a dozen bones, Corbella decided to mark the exact areas they were found in to help Catalan government technicians and archaeologists find them more easily.

The government should also place all the remains found in the Camposines memorial "so they can all be together," Corbella argued.