At least 11 people have been killed and 19 are unaccounted for after a fast-moving wildfire broke out in south-east Spain as the country endures its second heatwave of the summer.
The regional government of Andalucía said the victims, four of whom are believed to be British, had died while trying to flee the flames near the village of Bédar in the Los Gallardos municipality of Almería.
“There are no words for such pain and I want to offer our condolences to the families of the dead,” Antonio Sanz, the region’s emergency minister, said on Friday morning. “This is terrible news and today the hearts of the people of Andalucía are in mourning.”
Sanz said emergency services were fighting a “terrible and very complex fire, which is spreading very fast”.
He said eight people had been injured – four of them seriously – and that the authorities were trying to establish whether there were any more victims of the fire, which broke out on Thursday.
According to Sanz, those who had been found dead had tried to flee despite advice recommending that people stay put or follow an official evacuation route. He added that the fire had not ultimately reached Bédar.
“Unfortunately the decision to look for another way out through a ravine was a real trap,” he said. “Four people who died in one vehicle are thought to be British as the car they were found in was right-hand drive. Seven other people who had got out of their cars and were trying to walk out on a route that wasn’t the evacuation route suffered terrible consequences. It would appear that most of them were also foreigners, but their identification has yet to be confirmed.”
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