Spain wildfire: Four people from Britain feared to be among 11 killed

Four people from Britain are feared to be among 11 who have been killed in Spain's worst wildfire for more than two decades, officials say.

Another 19 people remain unaccounted for, with around 150 firefighters battling to put out the blaze in the Andalusia region in the early hours of Friday morning.

Antonio Sanz Cabello, president of the Andalusian emergency agency, described it as "the most ‌devastating fire to date in our region", and said the situation ​was an "unprecedented tragedy".

The blaze in the south of the country had spread extremely quickly in a wooded area around the town of Los Gallardos, a municipality of the Almeria province. It particularly affected the nearby hamlet of Bedar.

Mr Cabello said authorities had told residents to stay in ‌their homes and that the deaths seemed to have occurred when people decided to try to evacuate in their vehicles.

Four people died in one car, he said, and they appeared to be British as the steering wheel was on the right-hand side.

Mr Cabello said that "everything seems to indicate that they're from Britain".

'Fatal trap'

He said seven others were found dead ​after apparently abandoning their cars and trying to escape on foot along a ⁠route that was not part of the ⁠evacuation plan.

"The decision to take another route instead of the designated evacuation route became a fatal trap," Mr Cabello said.

The fire broke out in a hamlet in a semi-arid area near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains.

Authorities have not confirmed the cause of the fire, but said that people who called to report it said that a fallen power line had sparked a blaze that spread rapidly into a nearby forest.

Sky's Europe correspondent Alistair Bunkall said: "They think it started because of a severed electrical cable, so not arson, and not man-made."

‌Nineteen people remain unaccounted ‌for as ​emergency services continue the search and ​rescue ⁠operations, Andalusia's regional ‌leader Juanma Moreno told ‌Cadena Ser radio.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he felt "enormous sadness" over the fire, offering his condolences to the ​families of those killed.

In a post on X, he said emergency services, security forces and the military had been mobilised to combat the blaze and urged residents to exercise ⁠caution.

It comes after a wildfire ⁠in southern France earlier this week forced the ​evacuation of more than 10,000 people from two ​dozen small towns and villages near ​the Spanish border.

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Early summer heatwaves across western Europe ⁠in May and June have parched vast areas of land, making them particularly vulnerable to wildfires this ⁠year.

Europe is warming at more ​than twice the global average, the World Meteorological ​Organisation has said, making prolonged heat episodes increasingly likely.

(c) Sky News 2026: Spain wildfire: Four people from Britain feared to be among 11 killed