In brief
A fierce wildfire in southern Spain’s Bedar village has claimed at least 12 lives, including four Britons, and left 23 people missing. Hundreds of firefighters and specialists are battling the flames, which spread rapidly thanks to soaring temperatures of around 40 °C. A fallen power line is suspected to have sparked the blaze, though local utilities deny responsibility. The Almeria authorities warn that the death toll could rise and that many victims may be foreign nationals. The incident underscores Europe’s escalating wildfire risk amid climate‑driven heatwaves.
Spain battling deadly wildfire: 12 dead, 23 missing
Firefighters in the southeastern province of Almeria are fighting a rapidly‑spreading fire near the village of Bedar after a burst of flames took the lives of 12 people, including four Britons, and left 23 others missing.
Hundreds of police, firefighters, and specialist teams have been deployed, with heavy machinery and helicopters skimming the sky to dump water on the blazes. The region’s heatwave, with temperatures around 40 °C (104 °F), has driven the fire to seek and spread through excessively dry vegetation.
Local authorities in Los Gallardos say the likely trigger was a fallen power line, though the local electricity company has denied responsibility for the ignition. The dead have been found in a badly damaged vehicle, and police suspect many of the casualties are foreign nationals who did not follow evacuation routes.
Anna “Lucinda” Curtois, who had come to Spain with her family for a holiday, described the escape as “almost like a mushroom cloud of smoke” and feared that at least two other UK residents might have been killed. “They left their home on foot because the road was cut off,” she told BBC.
Authorities are still searching for the missing, and Spain’s health and emergencies minister Antonio Sanz believes the victim list may be mostly foreign.
The incident is among the deadliest wildfires in Spanish history, with the 1984 La Gomera disaster killing 20 people and a 1979 fire near Lloret de Mar killing 21, including nine children. The increasing intensity of European summer heatwaves, prompted by climate change, continues to fuel such tragedies.
