Nearly 500 firefighters, rescuers and military personnel continue the heavy fight against the uncontrolled forest fire that has claimed the lives of 12 people in the southern Spanish province of Almeria (autonomous region of Andalusia).
According to data from the Spanish public television RTVE, so far over 1,400 people have been urgently evacuated from their homes and nearby campsites. Local emergency services 112 warn that controlling the fire remains extremely difficult, and more than 20 people are still missing.
The fire broke out in the Los Gallardos municipality and quickly spread through the hilly forested area, heading towards the neighboring village of Bedar. The tragedy occurred after a group of locals and tourists ignored evacuation instructions from emergency services. People tried to escape the area in their cars, but were caught by the wall of fire directly on the road. According to initial information, four British citizens were among the dead in the disaster, while four of the injured are in critical condition with severe burns and have been transported by helicopter to a hospital in Seville.
“The situation is terrifying. The fire is spreading at an extraordinary speed, fueled by strong and constantly changing winds and temperatures of around 40 degrees“, said the regional minister of emergencies, Antonio Sanz, to the Spanish agency EFE. The president of the Andalusian Junta, Juanma Moreno, described the events as a "masterful tragedy" and added that the terrain and wind made extinguishing extremely difficult.
The official investigation into the causes is still ongoing. Initial hypotheses pointed to a broken high-voltage power line that fell into a dry ditch. However, the energy company Endesa categorically denies this, telling Spanish media that there was no voltage on the cable in question and that it was not their property.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his great shock and deep condolences to the families of those affected. Southern Europe is currently experiencing an extremely intense summer with record heat, which has dried out vegetation and turned forests into flammable gunpowder. The current fire in Almeria has already become the deadliest in Spain in decades.