Spain says foreigners made up 12 of 13 Andalusia wildfire victims

Spanish authorities said 12 of the 13 people killed by a wildfire in Andalusia in southern Spain were foreign nationals. After post-mortem examinations were completed, officials said seven victims were from the United Kingdom, three from Belgium, one from France and one from the United States. The other victim was Spanish.

The public body responsible for identifying the victims said the dead were eight women and five men, all adults.

The fire broke out last Thursday in Almeria province, near Spain's Mediterranean coast. Flames spread through forests and scrubland that had been dried by extreme heat, with high winds helping the fire move through rural settlements.

Emergency services initially recovered 12 bodies that were so badly burned that DNA samples were needed to identify them. The source says the fire was caused by an electrical cable falling on a road.

The blaze burned about 7,000 hectares, or more than 17,000 acres, of land. It has since been brought under control, and residents have been able to return to their homes since Sunday.

Spain has faced increasingly long and frequent heatwaves in recent years, with temperatures above 40C creating conditions for wildfires. In 2025, more than 393,000 hectares were destroyed by fire in Spain, according to the European Forest Fire Information System, the highest figure in the country's recent history.