Spain: 12 dead in a forest fire in Andalusia
The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical cable that had fallen to the ground
At least 12 people have died in a forest fire in Los Gallardos, in the south-eastern province of Almería, whilst six have been injured. Some of the victims were found inside vehicles completely engulfed in flames. According to witnesses, the fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical cable that had fallen to the ground and is thought to have spread rapidly to a nearby wooded area. The authorities have not yet confirmed the cause of the fire.
Around a thousand residents have been evacuated from their homes and around 150 firefighters are continuing to battle the flames with the support of additional crews. Nineteen people are still missing. “At present, there are at least 19 people still missing, and among the 11 confirmed victims are four people who were travelling in the same vehicle,” said the president of the Andalusian regional government, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, speaking to the Cope radio network, adding: “We may have a twelfth fatality.”
Also on Thursday, another fire broke out in Andalusia, near Estepona. Fanned by the wind, the flames gradually spread northwards, reaching the municipality of Benahavís, whilst a thick column of smoke was visible from much of the Málaga coastline. As a precautionary measure, the Andalusian authorities ordered the evacuation of around a hundred residents of the Costa del Sol and the closure of several main roads to facilitate the fire service’s response.
Meanwhile, a new fire has broken out in the province of Córdoba, first forcing the closure of a road and then the suspension of rail services between Alcolea de Córdoba and the provincial capital. The disruption has also affected high-speed services to Madrid. In recent days, other large-scale fires have struck the Pyrenees, on the border with France, where the flames have devastated over 20 square kilometres of vegetation: 97 per cent of the affected area lies within the protected Les Gavarres Nature Reserve.
June was the hottest month ever recorded in Western Europe and the second hottest globally. In Spain, it also proved to be the most devastating period of the year in terms of wildfires, with around 160 square kilometres of land going up in smoke. Among the areas most severely affected was Cantabria, along the country’s northern coast.
