AUSTRALIA: At least eight people have been killed as a bush fire burned out of control across a southern Australia peninsula, seven are missing and six more were rescued after they escaped into the sea.
Australia's deadliest bush fire in more than 20 years was burning in scrubland and across rural properties across the Eyre peninsula, about 250 km west of the South Australian state capital Adelaide, and several homes had been destroyed.
Police yesterday said they feared the toll could rise with another seven people missing in the blaze.
Fires are a regular danger during the scorching Australian summer and conditions have worsened in recent years as Australia endures its worst drought in a century.
More fires were reported across South Australia, including in hills outside Adelaide and two more were burning in neighbouring Victoria state.
New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, has also been placed on alert.
It appeared all eight people died as they tried to flee the Eyre peninsula fire in cars, police said. Their bodies were found at three separate sites.
The bodies of a mother and two children aged two and four were found in the wreckage of a car which apparently had crashed in blinding smoke near the tiny town of Louth Bay, police said. Two other adults died in another car nearby and three more were found dead at the third site.
Two firefighters were being treated in hospital for serious burns. A rescue boat earlier picked up about six people who jumped into the sea to escape the blaze at the coastal hamlet of North Shields.
Roads were cut and of people were evacuated from houses and rural properties. The Eyre peninsula fire has burned out at least 100,000 hectares.