Spain's prime minister visits wildfire site as death toll reaches 13

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday visited Almeria province, the scene of one of Spain's deadliest wildfires in recent history, which has claimed 13 lives and scorched a huge area.

Sanchez arrived in the municipality of Turre to meet the emergency responders who continued to extinguish the blaze, which has forced people from their homes and devastated entire agricultural areas since it broke out last Thursday.

"All the olive trees we had have burned," said Jose Antonio Ruiz, a resident of the affected area.

Ruiz and his family were among the fortunate ones. Others were not so lucky. Some victims were trapped in their cars, while others were forced to cross forests completely engulfed in flames.

"They did not leave their homes, they stayed there, [although] they were told to [leave and that] they would be protected. They did not listen. We are heartbroken, heartbroken by the loss of human lives," said Angel Collado, mayor of Bedar, a municipality in Almeria.

Other people affected by the fire said warnings did not arrive in time, particularly given the speed at which the blaze spread.

Sanchez warned of the grave threat posed by climate emergencies.

"Roughly a quarter -- or a third -- of the total area burned in Europe last year was here in Spain. The climate emergency kills. We are seeing it across Europe," Sanchez said on his visit to the affected area.

Authorities across Europe are bracing for a potentially long summer of wildfires, as relentless heat waves worsened by the El Nino weather phenomenon raise the risk of fires.

Spain's prime minister visits wildfire site as death toll reaches 13

Decoupling and disruption of industrial and supply chains will make all parties pay higher price in the end, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The global industrial and supply chains are deeply interconnected and mutually complementary in advantages. We all belong to one community with common stakes. Decoupling, protectionist barriers, and forcibly reengineering industrial and supply chains are not only expensive, but also against both market rules and the choice of businesses. Eventually it will cost everyone more and deliver less," Lin Jian, the spokesman, told a press conference in Beijing.

True sense of security comes from cooperation, not isolation, and keeping the global supply chain safe, stable and unimpeded is a shared responsibility of all countries, Lin said.

"China will continue to unswervingly adhere to expanding high-standard opening up, and will continue to provide quality products and cooperation opportunities for the rest of the world with its mega-sized market and complete industrial system. We stand ready to work with other countries to resist the logic of bloc confrontation, make the global supply chain an all-win chain, and provide steady impetus for common development of the world," he said.

Decoupling, supply chain disruptions will only incur heavier losses to all: spokesman