Eleven dead, 19 missing as wildfire roars through village
‘The deceased are, mostly or entirely, foreign nationals.’
‘The deceased are, mostly or entirely, foreign nationals.’
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Eleven people were killed and 19 are missing after a wildfire tore through a Spanish village, with four victims who may have been British who were burned in their car, authorities said Friday.
Authorities said many of the victims may be foreign tourists visiting Bedar, a small village in Los Gallardos district, but that they were still confirming their identities.
They described victims trying to flee the fast-moving blaze through difficult, forested terrain.
About 400 firefighters and troops battled the inferno northeast of Almeria in the southern Andalusia region which witnesses said may have been started by a power line that fell and set scrub land on fire.
It erupted as temperatures across heat-battered Spain and France were predicted to hit 40C on Friday, with forest fires blazing in both countries.
“At the moment, we have confirmed that 11 people have lost their lives in the Los Gallardos fire; there are no words for such grief,” Antonio Sanz, the Andalusia region’s minister for emergencies, said in a video posted on X.
“Everything indicates that the deceased are, mostly or entirely, foreign nationals,” Sanz added, with authorities still confirming their identities.
He said four of the dead were in a right-hand drive car that indicated they were British, but that their identities were still being confirmed.
He described the fire as a “very complex, very fast-moving” outbreak in a region with many ravines and homes in forested areas.
The Andalusia regional government said emergency services were submerged by more than 150 calls from people reporting the fire and that flames could be seen on a main highway passing near the village.
Sanz also said eight people had been injured, four seriously, and that about 3,150 hectares (7,780 acres) of forest and farm land had been scorched.
