Eleven dead, 19 missing as Spain wildfire roars through village

MADRID

A picture taken on July 10, 2026 shows a Canadair water bombing aircraft on the site on a wildfire that killed 11 near Los Gallardos, in Almeria Province.(AFP)

Eleven people were killed and 19 are missing after a wildfire tore through a Spanish village, with four victims who may have been British who were burned in their car, authorities said on July 10.

Authorities said many of the victims may be foreign tourists visiting Bedar, a small village in Los Gallardos district, but that they were still confirming their identities.

They described victims trying to flee the fast-moving blaze through difficult, forested terrain.

About 400 firefighters and troops battled the inferno northeast of Almeria in the southern Andalusia region which witnesses said may have been started by a power line that fell and set scrub land on fire.

It erupted as temperatures across heat-battered Spain and France were predicted to hit 40 degrees Celsius on July 10, with forest fires blazing in both countries.

"Everything indicates that the deceased are, mostly or entirely, foreign nationals," Antonio Sanz, the Andalusia region’s minister for emergencies, said in a video posted on X.

He said four of the dead were in a right-hand drive car that indicated they were British, but that their identities were still being confirmed.

He described the fire as a "very complex, very fast-moving" outbreak in a region with many ravines and homes in forested areas.

The wildfire comes as Spain swelters in a heatwave, with scorching temperatures triggering orange weather warnings - the second highest level -- across parts of Andalusia in recent days.