Seven Britons among 12 foreign nationals killed in Spain’s deadly wildfires | Spain
Seven Britons were among 12 foreign nationals killed in bushfires in southern Spain, officials said.
Authorities said that 12 of the 13 victims who completed autopsy examinations after the fire in Andalusia were foreign nationals.
Seven were from the UK, three from Belgium and one each from France and the USA. The last victim was a Spanish national.
“Of the 13 dead, eight were women and five were men, all adults,” said the public agency responsible for identifying the victims.
Last Thursday, a fire broke out in Almería, a picturesque southeastern province near the Mediterranean coast that is home to many foreigners.
Flames fanned by high winds tore through forests and shrubs and dried out tinderboxes due to extremely high temperatures.
Among the dead British citizens were Pete and Fran Gillam, who lived in the village of Bédar, which was hardest hit by the bushfires.
Their daughter Danielle Gillam-Kirton wrote on Facebook: “We are saddened to share that we have received confirmation from the police that Mum and Dad did not survive the fire. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers over the past few days. They mean more to us than we can express.”
Burnt-out cars litter the road leading out of Bédar, and authorities have confirmed that some victims died in their vehicles while trying to escape.
A British man died in his car while trying to save his pets, a friend of his wife said.
Penelope Howe, 54, said her friend’s husband died when flames engulfed his car during the evacuation of the Los Gallardos region of Almería state.
Emergency services initially found 12 bodies so badly burned that DNA samples were needed to identify them.
The blaze, one of Spain’s deadliest in recent years and caused by a fallen power cable on a road, devastated nearly 7,000 hectares (more than 17,000 acres) of land.
The flames were later brought under control and citizens were able to return to their homes since Sunday.
Spain has suffered increasingly longer and more frequent heatwaves in recent years, with temperatures exceeding 40°C, creating perfect conditions for wildfires.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System, more than 393,000 hectares of land will be destroyed by the largest fire in the country’s recent history in 2025.
