Four dead as Spanish wildfire rages out of control

Hundreds of fire-fighters, backed by water-bombing planes, battled a wind-fuelled wildfire in north-east Spain Monday that left four French nationals dead and trapped thousands of people indoors. The blaze claimed its fourth life Monday when a 64-year-old Frenchman who suffered 80 percent burns after his car was engulfed in flames died at a Barcelona hospital, the Catalan regional government said.
Another 23 people were injured, including eight who remain in hospital, it added. The wildfire broke out on Sunday near the town of La Junquera and spread rapidly across the Alt Emporda region near the French border, whipped up by winds of up to 90 kilometres (55 miles) an hour.
Smoke from the blaze, which has so far ravaged up to 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) of land, reached Barcelona, Spain's second-biggest city located some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the border. The fire remained "out of control", the interior minister of Catalonia, Felip Puig, told reporters. It was likely caused by a cigarette butt or small explosive device that caught fire due to "recklessness or negligence", he added.
Over 1,500 people were battling the blaze, including over 500 fire-fighters and 150 volunteers who worked alongside police, soldiers and forest guards, a spokeswoman for Catalan fire-fighters said. They were backed by 22 French and Spanish water-bombing planes. Officials were not able to deploy aircraft against the flames on Sunday due to the strong winds.
"It started yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon, at Perthus, near La Jonquera. The wind was very strong, a strong north wind, we immediately saw clouds of smoke rising," said Miguel Arche, 54, from the town of Terrade. "It was impressive. And then, around 6:00 pm, the fire had reached Llers, it was very strong, on a very wide front." Fire-fighters managed to bring the front of the fire burning near the town of Portbou just across the border with France under control on Sunday night.
A Frenchman and his 15-year-old daughter died Sunday after they abandoned their car and threw themselves off a cliff into the sea to escape the approaching flames near the town. The man's wife and their two other children were injured in their escape bid and are in hospital.
"From where they jumped you would have to project yourself about one metre (three feet) to reach the sea. They probably did not jump far enough and they hit the rocks below," said Portbou mayor Jose Luis Salas-Mallol. A 75-year-old Frenchman man died of a heart attack as he watched his house consumed by flames in the town of Llers.