Wildfires in southern Spain kill at least 12

Andalusia’s deadliest fire comes as heatwaves across Europe have left swaths of the continent highly vulnerable.A fast-moving wildfire in Spain’s southern Andalusia region has killed at least 12 people.Regional officials reported on Friday that the blaze was the deadliest recorded in the region, noting that several more people remained unaccounted for. Authorities have not pinpointed the cause of the fire, which occurred as the country endures soaring temperatures.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Firefighters race to contain flames in northeastern Spainlist 2 of 310,000 people evacuated as wildfire tears through southern Francelist 3 of 3Hottest June on record in Western Europe as heatwaves hit continentend of listThe blaze broke out on Thursday afternoon near the N-340 highway in the municipality of Los Gallardos in Almeria province. Strong winds quickly fanned the flames into the neighbouring municipality of Bedar.Emergency services discovered several of the victims trapped inside vehicles as they attempted to flee a rural hamlet, local authorities reported.Authorities said they were continuing search operations. Andalusia’s regional leader Juanma Moreno ⁠told Cadena ⁠Ser radio on Friday that nineteen ⁠people remained unaccounted for, the Reuters news agency reported.According to regional outlet Almeria" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="162750" data-entity-type="organization">La Voz de Almeria, this is the deadliest fire in the region’s recent history, surpassing any record of deaths in a fire in both the 20th and 21st centuries.Andalusia’s acting minister for health, the presidency and emergencies, Antonio Sanz, said it was “the most devastating fire to date in our region” and described the situation as “an unprecedented tragedy”.“The pain is immense. Andalusia is in mourning, and our hearts go out to Almería and all those affected,” Sanz stated.Six other people were injured in the blaze, regional authorities said, including a woman who suffered severe burns and another individual who was hospitalised for smoke inhalation.