Spain Wildfires : Majority of 12 Victims of Spain Believed to be Foreigners

Around 800 people were evacuated, including nearly 200 to temporary shelters.

Around 500 firefighters, backed by Spain's Military Emergency Unit, battled to contain the flames and search for victims.

The fire broke out on Thursday and destroyed forests and swathes of scrubland in the Los Gallardos area.

The Identity of the Victims Has Not Yet Been Established

Antonio Sanz, Andalusia’s minister for emergencies, said the majority of the victims appeared to be foreign nationals.

"Everything indicates that the deceased are, mostly or entirely, foreign nationals."

He said the victims reportedly strayed from designated evacuation routes and sought an alternative exit via a river, a decision that ultimately turned into “a trap.”.

Four of the victims were travelling in a right-hand drive car. "They appear to have been British nationals and were burned to death inside the car,"  Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, the head of the Andalusia regional government,  told Spanish radio.

The authorities said many of the victims may be foreigners who were in Bedar, a small whitewashed village located about 15 kilometres from Spain's Mediterranean coast.  Bedar is popular with foreign residents and tourists as  a quieter alternative to the nearby beach resorts.

Witnesses said the fire may have been started by a power line that fell and set scrubland alight but there was no official confirmation.

'Deeply saddened'

Spain's King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and their two daughters observed a minute of silence on Friday for the victims.

The king cut short his appearance at a ceremony marking the completion of his eldest daughter Princess Leonor's military training to express condolences to those affected by the disaster in Almeria.

Scientists agree that climate change caused by humans burning fossil fuels is making extreme weather events such as heatwaves more likely and more intense.

Third heatwave

Spain has experienced increasingly frequent and prolonged heatwaves in recent years, with temperatures often exceeding 40C.

That is  fuelling conditions for major wildfires.

Deadly wildfires devoured almost 4,000 square kilometres of land last year, the highest figure recorded for the country by the European Forest Fire Information System.

For now Spain has been sweltering in extreme heat, favourable for the rapid spread of wildfires.

Scorching temperatures triggered orange weather warnings, the second highest level, across parts of Andalusia in recent days.

After the hottest June on record, Europe is once again hot.

Temperatures in Portugal and ‌southern Spain are expected to climb to 43C  in the coming days.

Barcelona registered a maximum temperature of 40.5C on Wednesday, its highest figure in 112 years of records.

France is experiencing another extreme heatwave after less than a week.

The French Meteorological Agency (Météo-France) warns that the third heatwave this year could last for about 12 days.

In southwestern France, temperatures could reach 42C.

“Together, these records reflect a climate system continuing to accumulate heat,” said Samantha Burgess, a climate scientist at Copernicus. “The result is increasingly intense heatwaves, a persistently warm ocean, and growing risks for people, ecosystems and infrastructure.”

Copernicus said the succession of heatwaves illustrated “the growing challenge” posed by worsening heat extremes.

Europe on Fire

Raging infernos have laid waste to large areas of southern Europe in recent days. Data published on Tuesday shows EU wildfires have burned 56% more land than usual.

The area that has gone up in flames is four times bigger than the average for this time of year in France, where 35,400 hectares (87,474 acres) have burned, and double the average in Spain, where 55,128 hectares (136,224 acres) have burned, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

Sources: Euronews, Copernicus