Forest fire in Andalusia claims at least twelve lives – dozens missing

Francisco Miguel Reyes emphasized on state television RTVE: "It is a fire of unprecedented scale." Pedro Ridao told TVE: "It was primarily the wind in the afternoon that favored the spread."

Many victims apparently foreign tourists

According to authorities, children are among the dead. Seven additional victims were found after they apparently abandoned their cars and attempted to flee on foot away from the designated evacuation routes. A minister stated that the victims had decided to flee "on their own" across a dried-up riverbed – which proved to be a "true trap" – instead of staying in their homes or following the evacuation routes.

When rescue teams reached a burned-out car wreck on Friday morning, they found only four charred bodies there. Because the vehicle was right-hand drive, authorities assumed it was a foreign vehicle. Most of the victims were apparently foreign tourists or owners of vacation homes who had tried to flee on their own.

More than 1,400 people from several localities were evacuated and housed in emergency tents. Around 400, some of them elderly, were taken to safe locations with the help of emergency services, a government spokesperson said. More than 1,000 residents found shelter in a sports center. Around 150 people were preemptively brought to safety from the town of Colloro.

Evacuations and rescue operation

Rescue services received more than 150 emergency calls on Thursday. Around 1,500 residents from five settlements were put in danger. Meanwhile, more than 460 emergency personnel are participating in the firefighting efforts, supported by 30 firefighting aircraft and helicopters as well as drones. According to RTVE, around 150 firefighters were deployed throughout the night.

The firefighting efforts were hampered by high temperatures, which were still around 35 degrees Celsius in the early evening, as well as by strong wind with gusts of about 40 kilometers per hour. Firefighting was difficult because the area, crisscrossed by numerous ravines, impeded access for the emergency crews.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed on the platform X "enormous sorrow and dismay" over the disaster and offered his condolences to the bereaved. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also expressed on the platform X his "great sorrow and dismay at the terrible consequences of the fire." The Royal House stated: "We express our sorrow and condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased and to all those affected."

Political reactions and expressions of sympathy

Juan Manuel Moreno said on the radio station Cadena Ser that hikers were presumably among the missing. Luis Ortega assured that the missing were being searched for "house by house." Moreno expressed hope: "I do not believe we will discover many more bodies."

Authorities fear a further rise in the death toll, as 23 people are still missing. Moreno told journalists: "That does not mean they are dead." Sanz emphasized: "Through the evacuations, many lives were saved."

The energy provider Endesa contradicted initial assumptions that the fire had been triggered by a snapped power line that had fallen onto dry brushland. The exact cause of the fire initially remained unclear.

Forest fires increasing across Europe

Since the beginning of the year, large-scale fires in Spain have already destroyed more than 50,000 hectares of land, according to data from the European Commission's Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) – an area almost as large as the canton of Basel-Landschaft. In 2025, more than 393,000 hectares of land fell victim to the flames in Spain.

For Spain, it is the most consequential forest fire since 2005, when eleven firefighters died in a fire triggered by a grill in the central Spanish province of Guadalajara. Only the forest fires on the Canary Island of La Gomera in 1984 and in Lloret de Mar in 1979 claimed more victims.

The tragedy evokes memories of the devastating forest fires in neighboring Portugal in June 2017. At that time, more than 60 people died during a heat wave, half of them while fleeing in burning cars. Earlier in the week, a forest fire that spiraled out of control in southern France near the Spanish border forced the rescue of more than 10,000 people from numerous localities.

Emergency crews are also battling forest fires in other parts of Europe. In northern Italy's Piedmont, a forest fire expanded within 24 hours from just over 100 to more than 600 hectares. In Great Britain, temperatures around 35 degrees have prevailed for more than a week, particularly in the south of the country.