A wildfire killed at least 12 people in Almeria in southern Spain on Friday as soaring temperatures gripped much of the country, authorities said early Friday.
Several victims of the Los Gallardos fire were found inside burnt-out vehicles and were thought to have died while trying to flee the flames; eight people were injured and a further 23 are unaccounted for, Andalusia's regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said.
About 150 firefighters and 220 soldiers from Spain's military emergency unit were battling the blaze Friday. The Los Gallardos fire broke out in a hamlet in a semi-arid area near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains, and the blaze led to road closures and about 1,000 residents were evacuated, emergency services said.
The blaze has consumed more than 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres) of forest and farmland, regional authorities said.
Regional emergency authorities said four British nationals and other unspecified foreign nationals appeared to be among the dead.
Antonio Sanz, president of Andalusia's emergency services, said most victims died while attempting to flee and ignored shelter-in-place instructions. He said one group used a dry riverbed that "turned into a death trap" and that seven people died while on foot after abandoning their cars. "The consequences have been terrible," he said.
Authorities have not confirmed the cause of the fire, but people who called to report it said a fallen power line had sparked a blaze that spread rapidly into a nearby forest.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X, "Immense sadness and desolation in the face of the terrible consequences of the fire affecting the province of Almeria." Andalusia's regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno wrote on X, "Our hearts are heavy and we are devastated by grief."
Authorities said the blaze was one of the country's deadliest on record, and regional authorities said it was the deadliest the region had seen to date.
In June, Spain experienced several days of record-setting heat, with over 1,000 excess deaths attributed to heat, officials said.