SPAIN: At least 11 firefighters were killed yesterday in a forest fire raging along a 17km front in central Spain, a regional official said.
Spanish media said as many as 14 people died when they were apparently trapped by the blaze that has scorched thousands of hectares in the Guadalajara area east of Madrid.
Two vehicles used by the firefighters were found burned. Government officials were on their way to the scene to get first-hand information, state radio said.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from villages due to the blaze which broke out on Saturday. It was started by a barbecue which had not been put out properly, officials said.
Strong winds were driving the blaze and flames were leaping up to 40m high, according to witnesses. Parched by a heatwave and the worst drought since the 1940s, much of Spain is like a tinder box and fierce fires are burning in several regions.
Police arrested a man believed to have started a fire close to a Repsol oil refinery in the town of Puertollano in central Spain. That fire was under control, a government official said.
In Zamora province, also in central Spain, a fire which had consumed about 1,200 hectares was now manageable, a government spokesman said.
In Madrid, an annual water fight which takes place as part of a fiesta in the district of Vallecas went ahead yesterday but organisers said the battle would last half as long as usual.