Spain confirms 12 foreigners among 13 wildfire victims

MADRID – Twelve of the 13 victims of a deadly wildfire that swept through Andalusia in southern Spain were foreign nationals, the authorities said on July 14 after completing post-mortem examinations.

In a statement, officials said seven were from Britain, three from Belgium, and one each from France and the United States. The last victim was a Spanish citizen.

“The 13 people who died are eight women and five men, all adults,” the public body responsible for identifying the victims added.

Fire broke out on July 9 in the picturesque south-eastern province of Almeria, which is home to many foreign residents near the Mediterranean coast.

Flames fanned by high winds ripped through forests and scrubland made tinderbox dry by extreme high temperatures, turning picturesque rural settlements into ghost towns.

Emergency services initially recovered 12 bodies that were so badly burned that DNA samples were needed to identify them.

The fire, one of Spain’s deadliest in recent years and caused by an electrical cable falling on a road, devastated some 7,000 ha of land.

The fire has since been brought under control and residents have been able to return to their homes since July 12.

Spain has in recent years experienced increasingly long and frequent heatwaves, with temperatures exceeding 40 deg C, creating perfect conditions for wildfires.

In 2025, more than 393,000 ha were destroyed by fire, according to the European Forest Fire Information System – the most in Spain’s recent history. AFP