\u201cWe are monitoring the situation closely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wildfire\u2019s death toll is one of the highest in Spain\u2019s recent history and MFAT urged New Zealanders in the affected areas to follow the advice of local authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealanders in Spain requiring consular assistance can contact the consular emergency line on +64 99 20 20 20,\u201d the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n
The fire, which started on Thursday in an area of steep ravines, destroyed forests and swathes of scrubland in the southeastern Los Gallardos area of Andalusia, home to many foreign residents.<\/p>\n
AFP reporters saw firefighters battling to douse the flames sweeping across the parched, rugged terrain, sending plumes of white smoke into the air.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska confirmed people of \u201cdifferent nationalities\u201d were among those killed, without mentioning specific countries.<\/p>\n
But he advised caution over the figure of 23 people missing, as some could involve people being unable to contact unharmed loved ones.<\/p>\n
A technical body responsible for supervising identification work said seven reports of missing people had been formally submitted.<\/p>\n
Autopsies had been performed on all 12 bodies and biological samples were being transferred to Madrid for their identification by the Civil Guard, the body added.<\/p>\n
The head of the Andalusia regional government, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, said the 12 victims were \u201cbadly burnt and unrecognisable\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Extraordinary pace\u2019<\/p>\n
The fire in Andalusia destroyed forests and forced evacuations, with over 3000 hectares burned. Photo \/ Jose Jordan, AFP<\/p>\n
Spain has sweltered in extreme heat exceeding 40C in recent weeks, creating tinderbox conditions favourable for the rapid spread of wildfires.<\/p>\n
Scientists agree that human-driven climate change is making extreme weather events such as heatwaves more likely and more intense.<\/p>\n
Fuelled by gusts of around 50 kilometres (30 miles) per hour, the blaze moved at \u201can extraordinary pace\u201d, advancing 15 kilometres in just two hours, Moreno said.<\/p>\n
The authorities said residents of the whitewashed village of Bedar had been told to either take a recommended evacuation route, or stay in their homes given that the fire was so close.<\/p>\n
The failure of some residents to follow these recommendations \u201cmay have led to the tragic loss of life in some cases\u201d, Moreno said.<\/p>\n
Located about 15 kilometres from Spain\u2019s Mediterranean coast, Bedar is popular with those seeking a quieter alternative to the nearby beach resorts.<\/p>\n
Ana, a shopkeeper in Los Gallardos, told local news outlet Ideal that \u201cpanic was setting in among the residents\u201d as nearby settlements were evacuated.<\/p>\n
Helping overnight in the municipal hall, where evacuees were resting in improvised beds, Ana said she saw \u201cpeople with panic attacks that were so strong that I decided not to go back in\u201d.<\/p>\n
Players, coaches and fans observed a minute\u2019s silence before Spain\u2019s World Cup quarter-final against Belgium in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Difficult access<\/p>\n
Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska listens to the Andalusia regional government’s councillor for Health and Emergencies Antonio Sanz as he visits the advanced command post of the Los Gallardos fire in Turre. Photo \/ Jose Jordan, AFP<\/p>\n
More than 500 firefighters, backed by army reinforcements, battled to contain the flames which officials said have so far ravaged more than 3,000 hectares of land.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn intense night lies ahead of us,\u201d the regional government\u2019s top emergencies official, Antonio Sanz, told an evening press briefing.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us hope tomorrow is a much more productive day… there are still fronts that are progressing and growing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Andalusian branch of national weather agency AEMET said conditions were due to be \u201crather more favourable\u201d on Saturday, with moderate wind and cooler air.<\/p>\n
Four of the victims are believed to be British nationals who were found burnt to death inside a right-hand drive car, Moreno said.<\/p>\n
Another seven people died while trying to escape on foot, Bedar mayor Angel Francisco Collado told reporters.<\/p>\n
Spanish media said the 12th victim was a cyclist who got swept up in the flames.<\/p>\n
Officials said eight people had been injured, four seriously, and 1,405 evacuated.<\/p>\n
Danielle Gillam-Kirton was among many people taking to social media to appeal for information about loved ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother texted me yesterday at 6:53 pm to say they were being evacuated,\u201d she wrote. She has not heard from her parents, who live in Bedar, since that message.<\/p>\n
Deadly wildfires devoured almost 400,000 hectares (one million acres) of land in Spain last year, the highest figure recorded for the country by the European Forest Fire Information System.<\/p>\n
– with AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are monitoring the situation closely.\u201d The wildfire\u2019s death toll is one of the highest in Spain\u2019s recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[17525,1665,74,534,3471,806,1558,682,4996,9828,273,44413,9189,18934,305,3375,807,440,25306,258391,111,139,69,10711,384,766,6302,147,65633,61,8528,11226,87115,80],"class_list":["post-521321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-17525","tag-advice","tag-after","tag-amid","tag-among","tag-as","tag-been","tag-being","tag-blaze","tag-different","tag-environment","tag-fastmoving","tag-follow","tag-foreigners","tag-have","tag-killed","tag-kiwis","tag-local","tag-monitoring","tag-nationalities","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-officials","tag-people","tag-reports","tag-safety","tag-science","tag-spanish","tag-to","tag-trapped","tag-urged","tag-wildfire","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}