Five people died in a forest fire which ravaged north-eastern Spain and forced hundreds of people to be evacuated from their homes, Catalan regional government sources said. Most of those evacuated were able to go home - but not before the blaze had left five dead and ravaged about 1300 hectares of land, local authorities said.
Firefighters found the bodies of the five, the first fatalities in this summer's outbreak of wildfires in Spain, just 100 metres from their home in the village of Sant Llorenc Savall, Catalan executive deputy leader Arturo Mas said in Barcelona.
"We presume the five died of asphyxia," he said, explaining that the victims were believed to have rushed from their house into an area already shrouded by thick smoke. More than 500 people were evacuated on Sunday night from the Comabella and Granera areas in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region as a safety precaution while 80 fire engines and 17 aircraft fought the flames.
The fire is the worst in the Catalonia region in a summer that has seen dozens of major fires wreak havoc in Spain and Portugal. It is thought to have started in an oak forest in the Sant Llorenc de Munt i l'Obac national park on Sunday afternoon.
By early afternoon yesterday, the fire was still burning but officials said it was sufficiently under control for local people to return home.
About half of the destroyed land comprised part of the park, a designated area of natural beauty.
Catalan emergency workers remained on alert yesterday, officials said, amid reports that a fire some 60 kilometres away at Gallifa, north of Barcelona, may have been started deliberately. So far this summer, wildfires have scorched more than 30,000 hectares of forest and scrubland in Spain, with the west and south-west, particularly Extremadure province, hardest hit.

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