11 dead, 19 missing as Spain wildfire roars through village

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 Friday.

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 scrubland on fire.

It erupted as temperatures across heat-battered Spain and France were predicted to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday, with forest fires blazing in both countries.

“At the moment, we have confirmed that 11 people have lost their lives in the Los Gallardos fire; there are no words for such grief,” Antonio Sanz, the Andalusia region’s minister for emergencies, said in a video posted on social media.