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Firefighter tries to control a raging forest fire Sergio Torres/AP/Press Association Images

Thousands flee deadly wildfire in Spain

At least one person has been killed by the forest fires and five injured, officials say.

TOWERING FLAMES RACED through forests near the glitzy Spanish resort of Marbella on today, killing at least one person, injuring five and sending thousands fleeing.

More than 250 firefighters on the ground, backed by eight planes and nine helicopters, battled the blaze after hot, dry winds blew it through the tinder-dry mountain forest in southern Spain, officials said.

Bright orange flames danced high above the tree tops, lighting up the night sky yesterday as a 12-kilometer line of fire glowed across the Sierra Negra mountains by the Costa del Sol resort.

The inferno, which forced thousands of people to flee their homes, has killed one man, left a couple with major burns, and sent a mother and her two children scurrying into a cave to escape the danger.

One elderly man apparently made a fatal error of returning to his home near Marbella after he and his wife were evacuated the previous night, a spokesman for the Andalusia regional government told AFP.

His corpse was found near the charred remains of the house, and firefighters were searching the rubble in case his wife had also perished, the spokesman said.

“It seems that they went back at their own risk,” he said.

“The house is charred and collapsed, so the firefighters are going through the rubble because there is a possibility that the woman could have died, but that is not confirmed.”

The couple were not identified.

Another five people were taken to hospital, among them a Spanish couple being treated in Marbella for major second and third-degree burns, the spokesman said.

“They are in a serious state with mechanical ventilation,” he said, describing them as a married couple: a woman of 58 and her husband whose age was not known.

Spanish media said they were caught when the flames reached their chalet in the district of Rosario in the foothills of the mountains overlooking long white beaches along the Mediterranean coast.

(Image: Sergio Torres/AP)

A 45-year-old mother and her two children, one aged three and the other 11, took refuge from the inferno in a cave, and were now recovering in hospital, the government spokesman said.

“They are being treated for bruises and with oxygen,” he said. Their injuries were not believed to be serious.

Elias Bendodo, president of the government of the Malaga province, said thousands of people had been evacuated, mostly as a precaution, but it was impossible to give detailed figures.

In one area people had to be evacuated as the flames engulfed trees just one kilometre (half a mile) away from housing, but firefighters managed to bring it under control, he told public radio.

The inferno broke out yesterday afternoon, later extending across half a dozen municipal districts including Marbella.

Marbella’s sandy beaches and vibrant night life attract about 1.5 million foreign tourists a year, mostly Britons but also Nordic visitors and Germans, French, Italians, Dutch and Belgians.

“A relative lack of humidity, strong winds and high temperatures in the afternoon helped the fire to grow quickly,” said a statement by the regional government of southern Andalusia.

(Image: Sergio Torres/AP)

Before dawn Friday, winds dropped and the air was more humid, helping firefighters to tackle the blaze, the Andalucia government said. “The fire may be stabilised in the next hours,” it said.

Spain is at particularly high risk of fires this summer after suffering its driest winter in 70 years, and blazes have broken out in various parts of the country in recent days.

Flames have destroyed 139,886 hectares (353,665 acres) of land between January 1 and August 12, three times the amount during the same time last year and the highest amount in a decade, according to agriculture ministry figures.

- © AFP, 2012

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    Mute Bernadette Dunne
    Favourite Bernadette Dunne
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    Nov 20th 2011, 4:13 PM

    Best of Luck to all and do not give up keep the pressure on even when yea feel like giving up this government are going away the people are not Best wishes

    67
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    Mute John Woods
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    Nov 21st 2011, 2:13 AM

    If they are looking to close down a “house” to save money, I can think of one or two places which could be shut instead of this nursing home. Senate, Farmleigh, even Aras an Uachtarain for god sake.

    23
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    Mute iWmTN8uK
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    Nov 20th 2011, 7:05 PM

    To those of you against this and other cuts, where do you propose money is going to majestically fall from? The trees?

    22
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    Mute elaine
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    Nov 20th 2011, 8:47 PM

    Cut management who are clearly failing at their jobs, cut back office nobodies, do not take the homes out from under innocent vulnerable people!!

    68
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    Mute John McHugh
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    Nov 20th 2011, 11:29 PM

    I would hate to burst your bubble Micheal but the Euro is a fiat currency.
    So although it doesnt grow on trees, it is made from trees and holds as much value as there is nothing backing it.

    So ironically enough value wise it may as well grow on trees.

    But hey, karma’s a bitch.
    When you grow old and have your pension used as collateral for greedy gamblers so that they don’t have to put their hands into their own pockets, maybe your mark on society will leave you high and dry and out in the cold to die.

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    Mute Declan Carroll
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    Nov 21st 2011, 12:29 AM

    Meanwhile our last Minister for Health, Mary Harney, is in receipt of E130,000 a year pension. Not bad for someone who’s very political philosophy lead to the ruination of an entire nation. What does that work out a week ? FFS !!!

    34
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    Mute John
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    Nov 21st 2011, 12:44 AM

    So…in your world, we all just lie down and let the establishment cut us back to a third-world society. I guess the “those of you” you refer to don’t come from the Banking World?

    24
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    Mute Niall Mulligan
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    Nov 21st 2011, 1:15 AM

    Attaboy, Declan.

    The biggest problem I see at the moment is that cuts and taxpayer pain seems like a soft option to our leaders, only way to make them change course is to have them fear the electorate. We need to seem more protests, hopefully this is only the start.

    22
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    Mute Bernadette Dunne
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    Nov 21st 2011, 3:54 AM

    There is money going out on HUGE SALARIES TO TD’s Ministers Senators county Councillors an Tanaiste Bankers and top Civil Servants management teams etc etc etc it is time that their wage be cut with a very sharp cut and now they are way overpaid

    15
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    Mute Carr Barnes
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    Nov 21st 2011, 8:11 AM

    What if the government told you you had to move out of your home to another area? And while imagining that take into account u.at you can’t just hop onto a bus or into a car to go see friends or family meaning you would be isolated in a place you don’t know with people you don’t know. These are people not boxes of junk.

    9
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    Mute Daniel Dunne
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    Nov 21st 2011, 2:41 AM

    I attended this march today and it is sickening to see what those in power are willing to do to very elderly citizens. But reading between the lines, there is planning permission granted for a private nursing home within 100m of the current public hospital. It seems the “brown envelope” culture is still strong in our nation.

    22
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    Mute Bernadette Dunne
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    Nov 21st 2011, 3:58 AM

    Is the private nursing home connect to James Reilly by any chance in abbeyleix

    14
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    Mute John Ryan
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    Nov 21st 2011, 1:11 AM

    Michael, where did the money come from to pay back the bond holders? Seems there was no bother there. Let’s get our priorities straight and look after our own first instead of accepting our politicians arse-licking the fat cats in Europe who are effectively running the show now and it’s people like this who get left in the shit. Good Luck to them, I hope justice prevails!

    18
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    Mute CMD
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    Nov 21st 2011, 5:46 AM

    Bernadette you have probably near enough hit the nail on the head. There is some vested interest involved – some fat cat will benefit from this closure. And the frightening thing is that ordinary people really have no power against this sort of thing for another 4 and half years till we get a chance to vote this shower out. I’d bet the next government will be made up of a lot of independents. People just won’t trust any party from now on.

    12
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    Mute Dave O'Doherty
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    Nov 21st 2011, 6:37 AM

    CMD, it’s a pity that some people think that the people only have power once every five years. We have it all the time, 24/7.

    Problem is, we have such a short memory that our next government will probably be a coalition of FF and FG who will both still (amazingly) have enough support to get in after Labour are butchered like the Greens.

    We’re a country of lambs and lambs get slaughtered. Simples!

    11
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    Mute John
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    Nov 21st 2011, 2:34 AM

    Current Government Minister with an ‘Overwhelming Mandate’ in a rare moment of humble contemplation: “Hmmm…Imagine if the referendum on Oireachtas inquiries had passed and then we could have made an example of these obstinate protest march organisers (in matters of general public interest of course, and with little or no recourse to the Courts) for defying this Governments’ agenda on the Privatisation of Everything.”…Maybe in the next Referendum?!

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    Mute Frank McMahon
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    Nov 20th 2011, 10:25 PM

    the sign wouldve been more effective if it said “im NOT a celebrity, you cant get me out of here..”

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    Mute CMD
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    Nov 21st 2011, 11:20 AM

    Dave I agree with you about the “sheep” who will still vote FF or FG regardless of what either party do while in office. My point is that we really have no power at this moment to stop the closure of nursing homes, barracks or hospitals. They will be forced on us, we will be told it’s for the good of the economy or health and safety and in 4 years time a lot of these actions will be forgotten and the same merry-go-round of promises, speeches and bulls….t will start again. And most people will fall for it all over again. I’m long enough around to have seen it all many times. I just despair of this country. Then we have so many young people who won’t even vote – ach sin sceal eile!

    2
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