At least 11 people die in a fire in Andalusia
Some people have died when trying to flee the flames with their vehicles
A serious wildfire in Los Gallardos, Almeria, has claimed the lives of at least eleven people. Some of the victims died while trying to flee the fire in their cars. In addition, there are also eight injured, four seriously who are hospitalized with burns and four with minor injuries.
This is the fire "with the highest consequences to date," reported 112 Andalusia. According to the Minister of Presidency, Health, and Emergencies, Antonio Sanz, it is a "tragedy without precedent." Although twelve deaths were initially reported, Andalusian authorities have reduced the figure by one person and assure that the complexity of managing the emergency on the ground makes the data variable.
The first investigations confirm that the deviation through improvised routes in the midst of dense smoke aggravated the consequences of the evacuation in the first hours of the fire. Sanz specified two "scenarios": one with four people of British origin dead in a vehicle, and another with seven dead who apparently "were walking" and "were looking for an exit" that "was not the planned one."
The minister made an explicit call for calm and to avoid unilateral evacuation decisions, insisting to residents on the absolute necessity of not taking paths or escape routes that have not been coordinated and expressly authorized by the emergency services.
The first witness reports explain that the origin of the fire could be the fall of an electrical cable that would have ignited the vegetation. The strong wind would have spread the flames with extreme speed towards the surrounding forest mass.
The fire forces the evacuation of residents
"We currently have 122 people rehoused both at the Lubrín theatre and the Garrucha sports center (...) almost all of them from Bédar", explained the counselor. For this fire of such magnitude, residents of Almocáizar, Fuente del Albarico, Los Pinos, La Serena, el Pinar de Bédar, and the 'Miraflores' tourist complex have also been evacuated.
Regarding the fire situation, it is complex: "It is a fire with a lot of ravines where machinery could not enter, where there are no access areas. The topography is very bad", assured Sanz, who specified that the "right flank is the most worrying", where the fire could end up in cultivated areas, and a "very active" left flank where work has not yet been possible.
The virulent fire affecting this area of Andalusia has forced the activation of the Military Emergencies Unit, which is working there with 150 personnel. Added to these soldiers is the regional deployment: about 150 workers and 16 groups of forest firefighters, as well as operations and extinction technicians.
