At least 12 people have died in a forest fire in the province of Almería, Spain . The devastating blaze broke out in the municipality of Los Gallardos. Government sources told local press that the death toll is provisional.

According to the Minister of the Presidency, Health and Emergencies of Andalusia, Antonio Sanz, the situation is an "unprecedented tragedy." Currently, approximately 150 people and four fire engines are working to extinguish the fire.

At least seven people were injured and over a thousand people were evacuated . According to the Andalusian government, the victims were found dead inside cars trapped by flames along a secondary road near Bedar, where they had apparently been trying to escape the blaze.

Five of the seven injured were transferred to Torrecardenas University Hospital in Almeria with various degrees of burns. Two were rescued from an embankment where they had jumped to escape the fire , according to the 112 emergency service.

Due to the fire, the municipality of Bedar, as well as the villages of Almocaizarf, El Chocolate, and Los Collados in the province of Los Gallardos, have been completely evacuated . Over 150 firefighters are working on the extinguishing effort, along with numerous aircraft, which have been joined in the last few hours by soldiers from a battalion of the Army's Military Emergencies Unit (UME).

The inability to use the main road to Bedar due to the advance of the fire front forced rescue vehicles to transfer some of the evacuees to the town of Lubrin. About a hundred people were housed last night in the local municipal theater and industrial complex.

In a message on X , Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed "enormous sadness and desolation at the terrible consequences of the fire affecting the province of Almeria." Sánchez conveyed his condolences "to the families of those who died in the Los Galardos forest fire" and "wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured and his solidarity with all the affected residents."

The governor of the Andalusian government, Juanma Moreno , also sent his "deepest condolences" to the families of the victims and his "affection to all the municipalities affected by the fire" on the same social network, "with a soul full of anguish and broken by pain," expressing his "dismay" at the tragedy.

(Unioneonline)

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