SANTA MARIA DEL ESPINO - At least 11 firefighters were killed on Sunday in a forest fire raging out of control along a 17-km (10-mile) front in central Spain, a regional official said.
A local government source said as many as 14 people may have died, 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 burned.
Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega and other officials were on their way to the scene to get first-hand information, state radio said.
About 500 people have been evacuated from four villages due to the blaze that broke out on Saturday in a nature reserve. It was started by a barbecue that was not put out properly, officials said. Strong winds drove the blaze quickly through resinous pines and flames lept up to 40 metres high, according to witnesses.
About 150 firefighters tackled the blaze on Sunday on the ground and from the air. As night fell, they were cutting fire breaks to try to halt the advance of the blaze.
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 that had consumed about 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) 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 on Sunday but organisers said the battle would last half as long as usual.
Story by Victor Fraile
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
