TERRADES, Spain — As a wildfire closed in on them, five members of a vacationing French family abandoned their car and stumbled through thick smoke down a steep hillside in a desperate bid to reach the waters of the Mediterranean. Instead of a beach, they found themselves at the edge of a cliff with no choice but to fall or jump. Two plummeted to their deaths.
The deaths of the father and daughter off the 65-foot-high cliff were among the most tragic accounts from Spain as it battles blazes during one of its driest summers in decades. The fire involved probably was sparked by someone throwing a lit cigarette out of a car along a small road inundated by vehicles heading to France, police said. The deaths occurred Sunday night in Portbou, a town 3 miles from the French border. Because wildfires elsewhere had forced the closure of the main highway linking Spain to France, traffic was diverted to the smaller road via Portbou.
The tossed cigarette apparently started a fire that quickly spread to woods along the road before the cars could escape and officials could shut the thoroughfare, Deputy Mayor Elisabet Cortaba said Monday. Around 150 people were soon running from their vehicles and down into the rocky terrain toward the beach.
The deadly northern regional wind phenomenon called ‘‘Tramontana’’ led to intense gusts in the heavily forested area, spreading the blaze quickly. The family of five became separated from the rest of the group on the way down and ended up at the edge of the cliff as the fire closed in, Cortaba said.
The mother tried to scale down the crumbly cliff-face, but lost her grip and fell, said Tony Buixeda, the town’s port manager, who was at the scene in a boat. The 60-year-old father died instantly when he hit submerged rocks, and his 15-year-old daughter drowned, Cortaba said. The mother was in a critical condition Monday and the son and other daughter were pulled from the water without suffering life-threatening injuries. Their identities were not released.