© picture alliance / Anadolu | Samuel de Roman
Severe wildfires are ravaging southern Europe. In Andalusia, in southern Spain, at least eleven people have lost their lives in what a Spanish regional minister has called “the worst wildfires ever” in the region.
According to the latest update from the Andalusian government, at least 11 people have died in the fire that broke out on Thursday in the municipality of Los Gallardos in the province of Almería, reports the Spanish newspaper El País. Eight people were injured, and four of them, who are in serious condition, were transported to a hospital in Seville.
Initial reports indicated twelve deaths, but in a statement to the media, Antonio Sanz, State Secretary of the Regional Ministry of Health and Emergency Situations, revised the death toll to 11. He reported that the victims were caught off guard by “a fire that spread very rapidly and engulfed the area in a flash.”
It is believed that the victims were foreign tourists who were attempting to leave the area “via a route other than the evacuation route” and were caught in their cars by the flames.
Andalusia’s 112 emergency service reports that some victims were found dead in cars engulfed by flames in a district of the neighboring municipality of Bédar. Approximately 1,000 people had already been evacuated as a precaution.
The province of Málaga has also been hit by severe wildfires. There, about a thousand people were evacuated. Near Benahavís, west of the coastal city of Marbella, about a thousand people were evacuated.
Picture: © picture alliance / Anadolu | Samuel de Roman