Almeria wildfire is now the third deadliest in Spanish history

The fire started on Thursday evening, claiming the lives of eleven people and injuring seven others. A team of 150 firefighters are still working in the area.

Lloret de Mar (21 victims): The forest fire in Lloret de Mar on 7 August 1979 claimed the lives of 21 people, most of whom were families with children who were spending the summer in the Els Pinars development and were unable to escape when the fire broke out.

La Gomera (20 victims): The second deadliest fire ever recorded in Spain occurred on this Canary Island in 1984. Most of the victims were hikers and local residents caught out by a sudden change in wind direction.

Riba de Saelices (eleven victims): Eleven members of a firefighting team lost their lives in the 2005 Guadalajara fire after being trapped by the flames in the Alto Tajo natural park. It is the fire with the highest number of casualties among fire and rescue services in recent Spanish history.

Millares and Llanera de Ranes (seven victims): The summer of 1994 was one of the most devastating on record in Spain, particularly in the region of Valencia, with the fire in Millares and Llanera de Ranes being the most catastrophic. Seven members of the firefighting team (five members of a provincial brigade, a councillor from Millares town hall and a volunteer) lost their lives while trying to extinguish the fire. A total of 33 people died as a result of forest fires across the country in 1994.

Horta de San Joan (five victims): Five firefighters from the Catalan regional government, members of the forest fire response reinforcement group (GRAF), died in July 2009 while attempting to extinguish a fire in the town of Horta de San Joan, in the province of Tarragona.

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