At least 12 dead and 23 missing as wildfire ravages expat community in southern Spain
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7 days · 7 summary articles
At least 12 people have died and 23 remain missing after a ferocious wildfire tore through a remote expat community in southern Spain overnight, authorities said on Saturday, as the blaze continued to burn despite the efforts of more than 500 firefighters and soldiers.
The fire, which broke out late Thursday in the semi-arid hills near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains in Almería province, has consumed more than 5,000 hectares of forest and farmland and forced the evacuation of 1,405 residents from the municipalities of Los Gallardos and Bédar. Four of the eight injured remain in critical condition in hospital, Andalusia’s regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno told reporters.
Most of the victims died while attempting to flee the flames, often ignoring official shelter-in-place instructions, emergency services chief Antonio Sanz said. Some tried to escape through a dry riverbed that “turned into a death trap,” he told journalists. Seven people died on foot after abandoning their cars, while others were found inside burnt-out vehicles. Regional authorities believe the majority of the dead were foreign nationals, with British and Belgian victims among them. Four of the deceased were identified as British because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as with British vehicles .
The blaze is one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires on record and has drawn international attention. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences on social media, writing on X that there was “immense sadness and desolation in the face of the terrible consequences of the fire affecting the province of Almería” . Residents described scenes of chaos as flames engulfed homes and roads, with one expat, Dean Taylor, telling the Associated Press he barely escaped using back roads. “It was quite terrifying,” he said. “It's a very sad day, isn’t it? It’s devastating, really.”
Firefighters and military emergency units are struggling to contain the blaze due to steep, tinder-dry terrain and strong winds gusting up to 40 km/h. The fire remains active as of Saturday afternoon, with 30 aircraft and drones supporting ground crews. Authorities have not confirmed the cause but suspect a fallen power line may have sparked the initial blaze, which rapidly spread through scrubland and esparto grass—fuel made dangerously flammable by weeks of extreme heat .
The disaster comes as Europe grapples with a third consecutive heatwave, with temperatures in southern Spain exceeding 40°C (104°F). Spain has faced increasingly frequent and severe wildfires in recent years, with June’s heatwave alone linked to over 1,000 excess deaths. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has warned that Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, amplifying the risk of such disasters .
Search teams are conducting door-to-door checks in the affected areas, though regional officials have expressed cautious optimism that few additional bodies will be found. “What concerns us now are these 23 people who are missing,” Moreno said. “That does not mean they are dead” . The fire has already destroyed homes, businesses, and livelihoods, leaving communities to assess the full extent of the damage as the region braces for further extreme weather.
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