The death toll from a devastating forest fire in the autonomous region of Andalusia has reached 12 after local emergency services confirmed the discovery of six more bodies at the epicenter of the fire, Spanish media and Agence France-Presse reported.
Initially, authorities in the province of Almeria reported six deaths, some of whom were trapped in their cars while trying to escape the flames.
The regional head of emergency services, Antonio Sanz, described the events as an “unprecedented tragedy”. The head of the Andalusian government, Juanma Moreno, expressed his deepest condolences to the relatives and shared on the social network X that the region was “devastated by grief“.
Fighting the flames and evacuation
The fire broke out in the afternoon on Thursday near the villages of Los Gallardos and Bedar. About 150 firefighters and five specialized vehicles were immediately sent to the scene. Due to the scale of the disaster, the Spanish Military Emergency Unit (UME) is also involved in the operation.
More than six people are seriously injured - among them a woman with severe burns and citizens with respiratory problems and gassing, who were urgently hospitalized. Roads in the area have been blocked, and nearly 50 evacuated residents have been accommodated in a local cultural center.
Possible causes
The official investigation into the causes is still ongoing, but according to eyewitness accounts, the fire was started by a downed power line that ignited the withered vegetation.
The disaster is growing against the backdrop of an intense heat wave that has swept the Iberian Peninsula, with temperatures in Andalusia exceeding 40°C. Meteorological services maintain an orange code for dangerous weather, and drought and severe drought in previous months have turned forests in southern Europe into a highly flammable environment. Just a week earlier, fires also threatened the tourist region of Costa Brava. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the country was implementing its largest wildfire response plan in its history, but a changing climate was making summer wildfires increasingly unpredictable and deadly.