Madrid, July 13:
Hundreds of firefighters backed by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft struggled Saturday to contain one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires that killed a least 12 people.
A combination of light winds and high humidity are helping crews but the sheer size of the fire still poses challenges, Antonio Sanz, head of Andalusia’s emergency services, said.
The fire has scorched some 66 sq km of forest and farmland, about the size of Manhattan.
Sanz said fire crews carried out controlled burns overnight around the perimeter of the fire, which broke out late Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierre de Los Filabres mountains in in Almeria province, just as Spain was sizzling.
Most of the victims, who are believed to be foreign nationals, died after ignoring shelter-in-place instructions, authorities said. Seven people died while on foot after abandoning their cars.
Four of the dead were believed to be British because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as with British vehicles, regional authorities said.
Sanz said Saturday that authorities had completed autopsies and DNA samples were collected to identify them.