Two dead in Spain fire as heatwave scorches Europe

Firefighters in Spain have said they found two bodies after a blaze in the northeast of the country, which is in the midst of a brutal heatwave.

The heatwave across Europe this week broke high temperature records, caused the closure of schools and increased the risk of fire.

Authorities in Spain’s Catalonia region on Tuesday confined about 14,000 people to their homes due to two wildfires that broke out almost simultaneously in the province of Lerida.

In one of the blazes, near the city of Cosco, “two people were found lifeless by firefighters”, the fire and emergency service said in a statement.

The exact cause of the fire was unclear, but the service said the recent heat, dry conditions and strong winds caused by storms had increased the intensity of the flames.

Catalonia regional president Salvador Illa said he was “dismayed after learning of the death of two people as a result of the fire”, in a post on X.

People sit in the shade under a bridge over the River Seine in Paris during a heat wave in France on Monday. AFP

Hours earlier, police in the region had reported the death of a two-year-old boy after he was left in a parked car in the sun for several hours.

Spain is in the midst of an intense heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places and several heat records set for the month of June.

One person died in the southern city of Cordoba and another in Barcelona, both while doing road work on Saturday and likely victims of heatstroke.

According to scientists, extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and storms, are becoming more intense due to man-made climate change.

Tens of thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a “silent killer”.