The death toll in the bushfires that raged across southern Australia this weekend rose to 108 this morning, amid fears that it will rise further as many people are still missing. Eighteen people remain in critical condition.
Troops and firefighters are still fighting raging Australian wildfires that have left at least 128 people dead amid a landscape of charred bodies, homes and devastated communities.
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The wildfires have become the deadliest in Australia's history, destroying 750 homes, burning down entire towns and wiping out families. Thirty-one fires were still burning in southeastern Victoria state, where all the deaths
occurred. They swept through some 3,000 square kilometres -- an area nearly three times the size of Hong Kong -- fed by tinder-box conditions after a prolonged heatwave.
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Along with the human toll, thousands of farm animals, pets and wild creatures have perished in the flames.
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Tales of tragedy, fear and narrow escapes have transfixed the nation while images of the towering flames dominate television and newspapers. Thousands of survivors are now jamming community halls, schools and other makeshift accommodation.
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The Australian Army has been called into assist the thousands of weary firefighters who have been battling the blazes over 48 hours, and the government has announced a $10 million (Rs 32 crore) emergency relief fund to help the victims.
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Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd toured the worst-affected areas, offering support to people who had lost everything.
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The Victorian Premier John Brumby said it was one of the "darkest days in Victoria's history" and described the deadly inferno as "hell on earth".
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Arsonists at work
Battling the fires has been an uphill task with several of them being lit deliberately. Arsonists are also being blamed for re-lighting fires that had been extinguished.
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Meanwhile, in the neighbouring New South Wales state, two people have been charged with arson.
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A 31-year-old man accused of lighting a blaze that burnt through about 200 hectares of bushland in Peats Ridge, north of Sydney, is due in court today.
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A 15-year-old boy who allegedly set off an explosive that started a small scrub fire in the Blue Mountains near Sydney on Sunday will appear in court next month.
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Neither of those fires killed anybody, but police suspect arsonists were also behind some of the major fires in Victoria.
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State Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said all bushfire areas will be treated as crime scenes to determine if arson was involved.
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