• 23 missing as blaze tears through 3,200 hectares in Andalusia region
• Emergency chief says victims ignored shelter order, died while fleeing fire
• Official says faulty power cable likely cause of fire; power company rejects blame
• DNA tests underway as authorities struggle to identify bodies

LOS GALLARDOS: At least 12 people died attempting to flee a wildfire in southern Spain and 23 were missing, officials said on Friday, as firefighters battled to bring one of the country’s deadliest blazes on record under control.

One Spaniard was among the victims and the rest appeared to be foreign nationals who ignored instructions to shelter in place, trying instead to flee by car as flames spread rapidly through a wooded area around the town of Los Gallardos in Almeria province, said Antonio Sanz, head of emergencies in the Andalusia region. The area is a popular holiday destination and home to many foreigners, especially the French, Britons and Belgians.

Four people, who appeared to be British because the steering wheel of their car was on the right-hand side, died in one vehicle, he said. Eight others were found dead after apparently abandoning their cars and attempting to escape on foot along a route that was not part of the evacuation plan.

Many of the charred corpses still had to be identified through DNA testing, he said. “The fire spread like gunpowder,” Juan Manuel Moreno, the regional leader of Andalusia, told reporters, calling the blaze “one of the quickest and most complex we’ve seen”. Moreno added that the blaze had so far ravaged 3,200 hectares and stronger winds were expected later on Friday.

Some of those missing were probably hikers caught off guard in the woods, he said. Rescue workers found several walking sticks at the scene. The fire was believed to have been sparked by a broken power cable that fell into a ditch next to a road, Moreno said. However, a spokesperson for utility company Endesa contradicted that by saying that the cable carried no voltage.

Early start to wildfire season

A series of early summer heatwaves has left large parts of Spain parched and vulnerable to any spark, fuelling an early start to wildfire season. So far this year, about 57,000 hectares have burned, about half the annual average for the past two decades and making up 40 per cent of all the area burned in the European Union, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

“We usually don’t see these fires until August. They’re starting earlier now

because the vegetation dries out sooner,” Roman Garcia, a forest firefighter from Salamanca, said on state broadcaster TVE.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Sanchez expressed his condolences and “enormous sadness” over the tragedy. Authorities worked to identify victims, while worried relatives globally shared posts on social media and forums.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2026