Wildfire kills 12 in southern Spain

At least 12 people were killed in a forest fire that broke out Thursday in Los Gallardos municipality in Almeria province in Spain’s southern Andalusia region  as a heatwave stifled swathes of the country. Some of the dead in Bedar in Almeria province were found in vehicles, the regional government said in a statement on Friday, revising an earlier toll of six dead. Around 150 firefighters backed by five fire trucks battled the blaze which broke out as temperatures neared 40C.
The fire injured at least six people, including a woman who suffered burns and another person with smoke inhalation who were taken to hospital. Antonio Sanz, Andalusia’s acting minister for Health, the Presidency and Emergencies, described the blaze as “the fire with the greatest consequences to date” in the region and called it an “unprecedented tragedy.” Witnesses told authorities the blaze may have started after a power line fell, igniting dry vegetation before spreading rapidly through surrounding woodland. Authorities have not confirmed the cause of the fire.

MASSIVE WILDFIRES engulf Los Gallardos, Spain

12 people KILLED, 6 injured pic.twitter.com/ZGHY6c4kdC

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Authorities raised the region’s wildfire response plan to the emergency phase as the fire continued to spread, while Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) deployed 150 personnel to reinforce firefighting efforts. The fire and heavy smoke also forced the closure of two major roads in the province. Separately, around 1,000 people were evacuated as a precaution due to another forest fire that broke out Thursday afternoon in the southern province of Malaga.