11 dead, 19 missing as Spain wildfire roars through village

MADRID – Eleven people were killed and 19 are missing after a wildfire tore through a Spanish village, with four victims who may have been British burned in their car, the authorities said on July 10.

The authorities said many of the victims may be foreign tourists visiting Bedar, a small village in the 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.

Around 400 firefighters and troops battled the inferno north-east of Almeria in the southern Andalusia region, which witnesses said may have been started by a power line that fell and set scrubland on fire.

It erupted as temperatures across heat-battered Spain and France were predicted to hit 40 deg C, 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,” the Andalusia region’s Minister for Emergencies, Antonio Sanz, said in a video posted on social media platform X.

“Everything indicates that the deceased are, mostly or entirely, foreign nationals,” he added, with the 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 swamped 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 3,150ha of forest and farm land had been scorched.

A further 19 people are still missing, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, the head of the regional government of Andalusia, told local media.

Flames tore through woodland

“Witnesses stated that a fallen cable had sparked the fire and that the flames had spread rapidly to the wooded area near the road,” the government’s statement said.

Roads were closed and residents evacuated as the fire spread, with about 150 people housed in a cultural centre.

Spain’s Military Emergency Unit, which is deployed in major emergencies, was sent to join the firefighters.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X that he was “deeply saddened and devastated by the terrible consequences of the wildfire”.

He said in May that Spain would deploy its largest-ever summer wildfire response in 2026.

The wildfire comes as Spain swelters in a heatwave, with scorching temperatures triggering orange weather warnings – the second highest level – across parts of Andalusia in recent days.

Spain has experienced increasingly frequent and prolonged heatwaves in recent years, with temperatures often exceeding 40 deg C, creating conditions for major wildfires.

The country registered its third-warmest year on record in 2025, with 25 single-day heat records set during the period, national weather agency AEMET said.

Earlier in June, hundreds of firefighters battled a wildfire that raged near the popular Mediterranean tourist destination of Costa Brava and forced thousands to stay indoors.

Strong winds whipped up the fire and prompted regional authorities to urge residents of 10 municipalities to remain at home, including at the popular Platja d’Aro beach resort.

Deadly wildfires devoured almost 400,000ha of land in 2025, the highest figure recorded for the country by the European Forest Fire Information System.

France has also been battling major wildfires in recent days. A fire blazing in the Drome region of south-east France for 10 days has burned 3,700ha of land. AFP