Eleven people were killed and 19 are unaccounted for in a wildfire in Almería in southern Spain, with 150 firefighters working to put out the blaze, the Emergency Agency of Andalucía said early on Friday.
Spanish Presidency, Health, and Emergencies Minister Antonio Sanz called the fire "the most devastating fire to date in our region" and described the situation as an "unprecedented tragedy".
Earlier, there were reports of six deaths from the wildfire.
"Our deepest condolences to the families of the six people who lost their lives in the Los Gallardos and the affection from all of us to the municipalities affected by the fire," Juanma Moreno, the leader of Spain's southern Andalusia region, wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
Some 500 evacuate in Catalonia
Earlier this week, wildfires originating in southwest France spread to the Spanish side of the border, ravaging 2,200 hectares, 97% of them in the protected natural area of Les Gavarres.
Police had arrested an employee of a company contracted by Catalonia's regional government who is suspected of having sparked the wildfire by using an angle grinder at the side of a road.
South of Catalonia, in the eastern Castellon province, 500 people were evacuated after a wildfire entered the Sierra de Espadan national park, home to a significant cork oak forest.