{"id":1527223,"date":"2026-07-10T13:39:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T18:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?guid=dffb426f0e0e155b00513e3ea0bd2a1a"},"modified":"2026-07-23T08:44:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:44:52","slug":"at-least-12-dead-23-missing-amid-fast-moving-wildfire-in-southern-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1527223","title":{"rendered":"At least 12 dead, 23 missing amid fast-moving wildfire in southern Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"
Image of the wildfire that broke out in the Los Gallardos area (Almeria) on 10 July 2026, in Los Gallardos, Almeria, Andalusia, Spain. (Photo By Francisco J. Olmo\/Europa Press via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

(LOS GALLARDOS, Spain) -- At least 12 people have died and 23 others are unaccounted for as firefighters in southern Spain battle a rapidly spreading wildfire, officials said.<\/p>

Emergency services in Andalusia said the death toll rose overnight amid the devastating blaze.<\/p>

Andalusian regional leader Juanma Moreno said in a post on X that eight people had also been injured, including four who were in serious condition.<\/p>

In an interview Friday morning on Spanish radio, Moreno said four of those killed were believed to be British nationals who became trapped in a car while trying to escape the flames.<\/p>

The majority of the victims were from outside Spain, particularly British and Belgian nationals, Moreno said later Friday, but added that authorities are still working to identify the deceased.<\/p>

The wildfire, burning in the municipality of Los Gallardos in Spain's southeastern Almeria province, continued to spread rapidly, with Moreno warning that weather conditions remained unfavorable for firefighters.<\/p>

\"The consequences are devastating,\" Moreno said in his post on X.<\/p>

Speaking to reporters Friday evening in Turre, a couple of miles from the wildfire in Los Gallardos, Moreno called the blaze a \"major tragedy\" and warned Spain is facing a challenging summer due to heavy winter rainfall that fueled a surge in spring undergrowth which has now dried out with the heatwaves.<\/p>

Emergency crews on Friday were continuing search-and-rescue operations as they worked to locate the people still reported missing.<\/p>

Moreno told reporters that firefighters were battling to control one of the fastest and most complex wildfires in the Andalusia region in years.<\/p>

Spanish officials cautioned that the full scale of the disaster is still emerging as rescue efforts continue and officials work to identify victims.<\/p>

Earlier Friday, a regional government official said in an interview that the fire was likely caused by an electric poll which had fallen.<\/p>

The regional minister for emergencies in Andalusia, Antonio Sanz Cabello, said on Friday that last night was \"a truly tragic night\" with \"terrible consequences.\"<\/p>

He said fighting the fire has been made more complicated by the remote terrain and the lack of access for heavy machinery. Sixteen aircraft are being used to fight the wildfire.<\/p>

Cabello urged people to take maximum care and said teams are still fighting the wildfire in Los Gallardos \"with all their strength.\"<\/p>

Andalusia's government has urged people to be careful and follow all evacuation instructions from officials.<\/p>

ABC News' Claire Bower contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>

Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image of the wildfire that broke out in the Los Gallardos area (Almeria) on 10 July 2026, in Los Gallardos, Almeria, Andalusia, Spain. (Photo By Francisco J. Olmo\/Europa Press via Getty Images)(LOS GALLARDOS, Spain) — At least 12 people have died and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8904,"featured_media":1527476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2026-07-10\/Getty_Spainwildfire_071026.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1502,1504],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1527223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-heads","category-abc-world-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-25 13:33:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2026-07-10\/Getty_Spainwildfire_071026.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8904"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1527223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1527475,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527223\/revisions\/1527475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1527223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1527223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1527223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}