At least 12 dead including 'four Brits' as wildfire rips through region of southern Spain popular with tourists and expats

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Four of the victims are believed to be British after they were found inside a vehicle with the steering wheel on the right-hand side.

Authorities say the rest of the dead are thought to be foreign nationals who ignored instructions to shelter in place and instead tried to flee by car as flames spread rapidly through a section of woodland.

Dramatic pictures show the flames ravaging around the town of Los Gallardos in Almeria province, a well-known holiday destination and area home to foreign communities including French, Britons and Belgian nationals.

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More victims were later discovered near the mountain village of Bédar.

It is believed the fire was started a by a power cable that fell over in an area of dry woodland and a rescue mission remains ongoing to locate bodies.

Antonio Sanz, head of emergencies in the Andalusia region, said: "The consequences have been terrible.

"Everything seems to indicate that, in the case of the dead, the majority, or all of them, are foreign nationals."

Authorities say 23 people, some thought to be hikers, are still missing.

Juan Manuel Moreno, head of Andalusia's regional government, said the victims may have been "caught off-guard in the woods".

One person was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation, and another who suffered burns, and four people were treated at the scene for minor burns and respiratory problems caused by the heavy smoke.

One Brit living in Scotland posted on X overnight: "My dad is in hospital. His house in Bedar has been evacuated and his cat is trapped inside."

Fifty people in the village of Almocáizar were ordered to evacuate as flames spread close to their homes.

Spain has been left victim to earlier than usual summer heatwaves which left parts of the country parched and vulnerable to any spark.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System, around 57,000 hectares (140,850 acres) have burned, about half the annual average for the past two decades.

"We usually don't see these fires until August," said Roman Garcia, a forest firefighter from Salamanca.

"They’re starting earlier now because the vegetation dries out sooner."

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered his condolences to the families of the victims and said he felt "enormous sadness and devastation".

As authorities sought to identify the dead and track down the missing, one woman from the US said her brother had been among a group of TEN people who tried to escape through a valley next to a stream.

Authorities told some residents of areas in the mountains above Los Gallardos to evacuate via a recommended route, while residents of the forested hamlet of Bedar were told to shelter in place.

But as the flames rapidly approached, Antonio Rubio, a handyman living in Bedar, said the smoke had made it impossible to shelter in place.

He said: "We left the house [on Thursday] afternoon at 5 o'clock. The fire didn’t reach my house, it stopped just short of it, but we could already see so much smoke, even though the fire was some distance away, so we had to leave."

Pedro Ridao, mayor of the nearby town of Antas, told local press that the fire was believed to have started when a power cable came loose and fell on a patch of dry scrubland on Thursday.

However, a spokesperson for utility company Endesa ruled that out after technicians found that the cable carried no voltage.

The death toll already surpasses that of 2005, when 11 firefighters were killed in a blaze in the central province of Guadalajara that was sparked by a barbecue.