A fire-fighting helicopter battles a deadly wildfire early Friday near Los Gallardos in Spain’s southern Almeria region. Photo by Carlos Barba/EPA
July 10 (UPI) — A huge wildfire raging in southern Spain killed at least 11 people with another 19 unaccounted for, authorities said Friday as more than 700 firefighters and troops, nearly 200 firetrucks and 16 aircraft battled the flames.
The Andalusian government said in a post on X that all indications pointed to the main blaze, which had already burned through more than 3,000 acres near Los Gallardos in Almeria province, being sparked by a fallen power pole before spreading to woods nearby.
Warning casualty numbers could increase substantially, Andalusian President Juanma Moreno said eight people were injured, four of them seriously.
“I’m on my way to Almeria. The consequences of Los Gallardos are devastating. Right now, all efforts are focused on controlling the fire and preventing further loss of human life,” he said in an update online.
The fatalities occurred in and around Bedar village, just northwest of Los Gallardos, with Andalusia’s health minister saying he believed four of those killed whose bodies were found in a car were likely Britons.
Health and Emergencies Minister Antonio Sanz said he had reason to believe they were British because the vehicle was right-hand drive whereas European cars are all left-hand drive — with the exception of Ireland, Cyprus and Malta.
The Spanish armed forces’ Military Emergencies Unit said in a post on X that it had 220 soldiers and 70 fire vehicles on the scene “attacking the frontline of the wildfire head-on to contain its advance.”
The provincial government said around 600 area residents remained evacuated.
More than 200 miles away in western Malaga Province, 1,000 people were evacuated from two residential complexes in the mountain village of Benahavis as a precautionary measure due to an “urban wildfire” that broke out on Thursday afternoon, the government said in a statement.
Authorities said more than 230 firefighters and other emergency personnel and 10 firetrucks were continuing to work to bring the fire under control and that the region’s Wildfire Prevention and Suppression Plan had been activated.
Residents forced to leave their homes were accommodated in a sports center, by the Red Cross and with family and friends or in local hotels.
Weeks of unseasonably hot weather across western and southern Europe, including three heatwaves with temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius, has triggered a series of wildfires that have burnt at least 49,000 acres across Spain, Portugal, Greece and France.
