Spanish PM visits site of deadly wildfire
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Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez greeting emergency services personnel as he arrives at the command post in Turre, Almeria province, on July 13.
PHOTO: AFP
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Turre, site of a deadly wildfire that killed 13 people and destroyed about 7,000 hectares of land.
- The fire spread rapidly due to hot weather and a suspected power line break, with emergency services and foreign authorities aiding identification of victims.
- Scientists link the wildfire's severity to climate change, noting 2025 saw Spain's worst wildfire damage on record, with nearly 400,000 hectares burned.
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TURRE, Spain – Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on July 13 visited the scene of one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires in recent history, which has claimed 13 lives and razed a huge area.
The wildfire that broke out on July 9 has transformed picturesque rural settlements into ghost towns and left a trail of destruction in Almeria province, home to many foreign residents near the Mediterranean coast.
About 7,000ha of forest and scrub land has been scorched.
Sanchez arrived in the southern municipality of Turre to meet the emergency services personnel as they worked to extinguish the blaze that continued to burn steep, rugged terrain.
The inferno spread at up to 100m per minute at its peak last week, trapping victims in their vehicles or on foot as they tried to flee.
Andalusian regional authorities said on July 12 that a 93-year-old British woman injured in the fire had died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 13.
The authorities have cautioned that the number of missing people remains uncertain until autopsies and the identification of bodies have been completed.
Officials coordinating the identification work said on July 12 that 10 formal reports of people missing had been submitted.
British, Belgian and French authorities were helping to provide genetic profiles from relatives.
Calmer winds and cooler temperatures allowed hundreds of firefighters to tame the blaze at the weekend.
The authorities suspect the wildfire began when a power line broke, setting fire to vegetation that had been parched after hot weather that pushed temperatures above 40 deg C.
Scientists say climate change caused by humans burning fossil fuels is making extreme weather events such as heatwaves, which contribute to wildfires, more likely and more intense.
Deadly wildfires devoured almost 400,000ha of land in Spain in 2025, the highest figure recorded for the country by the European Forest Fire Information System. AFP
