Belgians Possibly Among 11 Dead in Southern Spain Wildfires

At least 11 people have died and 19 remain missing after a fast-moving wildfire swept through the Almería province in southern Spain, prompting Belgian authorities to investigate whether Belgian nationals are among the victims. The blaze, which broke out on Thursday afternoon near the village of Los Gallardos, has been described as the most devastating fire in Andalusia’s history.

Context

The fire erupted during Spain’s second heatwave of summer 2026, with temperatures reaching 40–42°C (104–107.6°F). According to BBC News, the blaze is believed to have been caused by a collapsed power line, which ignited dry vegetation that spread rapidly through wooded terrain toward the village of Bédar. Approximately 1,000 residents were evacuated, though the operation was hampered by a key access road blocked by flames.

Key Developments

Spanish authorities confirmed that four of the victims are believed to be British, found trapped in a right-hand-drive vehicle while attempting to flee. Andalusia’s health and emergencies minister, Antonio Sanz, told The Guardian that seven other victims abandoned their vehicles but perished while trying to escape on foot through a ravine. “Unfortunately, the decision to look for another way out through a ravine was a real trap,” Sanz said.

Belgian authorities are now coordinating with Spanish officials to determine whether Belgian citizens are among the deceased. Many Belgian retirees own holiday homes in the Costa de Almería region, and a Flemish woman named Isabelle who fled the fire in Bédar reported that her bed-and-breakfast was destroyed. The Belgian foreign ministry is working with Spanish authorities on victim identification, which is expected to involve DNA sampling at a Guardia Civil station in the nearby town of La Garrucha.

According to VRT NWS, Sanz stated that “the majority — or even all — of the victims may be of foreign nationality.” Eight people were injured in the fire, four of them seriously with burns, while another four suffered minor burns and respiratory issues from smoke inhalation.

Analysis & Implications

The tragedy has drawn comparisons to the 2017 wildfires in central Portugal, where 66 people died — many trapped in their vehicles while attempting to flee. Francisco Miguel Reyes, the mayor of Los Gallardos, told Cadena Ser radio: “This is the first time that we’ve had a fire as destructive as this. It looks like a bomb has gone off in our municipality.”

The fire is part of a broader wildfire crisis sweeping across Southern Europe this summer. France has seen nearly 6,000 hectares burn across multiple departments, Portugal is battling a 13,000-hectare fire in Vouzela, and Greece has reported 60 new fire outbreaks in 24 hours. The European Union has activated its rescEU strategic reserve, deploying 22 firefighting planes and 5 helicopters across affected countries.

Seppe Lampe, a wildfire expert at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), warned that these conditions are becoming the new normal. “We see in recent years that the fire season is shifting: it starts earlier and ends later,” Lampe told VRT NWS. “Europe will warm by 4 to 5 degrees by the end of the century and that brings a completely different type of summer.”

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service. Last year was the European Union’s worst wildfire season since records began in 2006, with more than one million hectares burned across the bloc. In Spain alone, a record 393,000 hectares burned in 2025 — more than six times the annual average between 2006 and 2024.

What’s Next

As of Friday morning, the fire was still not under control. Some 150 firefighters and 220 soldiers from Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME) are deployed to combat the blaze. The death toll may rise as search efforts continue for the 19 missing persons. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offered his condolences, saying: “We’re feeling immense sadness and desolation in the face of the terrible consequences of the fire.” The identification process for victims, complicated by multiple nationalities, is expected to take days as DNA samples are collected and analyzed.