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Australia struggles to contact, save thousands stranded by bushfires
Source:AFP Published: 2020/1/1 18:53:41
A major operation to reach thousands of people stranded in fire-ravaged seaside towns was under way in Australia on Wednesday after deadly bushfires ripped through popular tourist spots and rural areas leaving at least eight people dead.
Police said three more bodies were discovered on Wednesday, bringing the confirmed death toll since late Monday to eight, including a volunteer firefighter killed when a "fire tornado" flipped his 10-ton truck.
There were mounting fears for several others missing after the country's southeast was devastated by out-of-control blazes, which destroyed more than 200 homes and left some small towns in ruins.
Information was trickling out of coastal communities where thousands of holidaymakers and residents were thought to have seen in the New Year taking refuge from flames at surf clubs, as power outages and damage to telecommunications towers brought down phone lines and the internet.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said emergency services faced a "real challenge" trying to help injured people in isolated areas.
"We haven't been able to get access via roads or via aircraft. It's been... too dangerous and we simply can't access, nor can the people in these areas get out," he said.
Fires were raging across the country and the defense force said it could take days for the military to reach people in some remote areas.
There was relief in the town of Mallacoota - where towering columns of smoke turned the sky pitch black and nearby fires caused waves of "ember attacks" - after a change in the wind spared around 4,000 people who had huddled on the foreshore.
Survivors cheered firefighters who battled to protect them by creating a protective ring of fire trucks.
Photo taken on December 17, 2019 shows the smoke-shrouded street in Canberra, Australia. Air pollution caused by bushfires continues in Canberra. (Photo by Chu Chen/Xinhua)
Navy ships and military aircraft were deployed alongside emergency crews to provide humanitarian relief and assess the damage from the deadliest spate of blazes yet in a months-long bushfire crisis.Police said three more bodies were discovered on Wednesday, bringing the confirmed death toll since late Monday to eight, including a volunteer firefighter killed when a "fire tornado" flipped his 10-ton truck.
There were mounting fears for several others missing after the country's southeast was devastated by out-of-control blazes, which destroyed more than 200 homes and left some small towns in ruins.
Information was trickling out of coastal communities where thousands of holidaymakers and residents were thought to have seen in the New Year taking refuge from flames at surf clubs, as power outages and damage to telecommunications towers brought down phone lines and the internet.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said emergency services faced a "real challenge" trying to help injured people in isolated areas.
"We haven't been able to get access via roads or via aircraft. It's been... too dangerous and we simply can't access, nor can the people in these areas get out," he said.
Fires were raging across the country and the defense force said it could take days for the military to reach people in some remote areas.
There was relief in the town of Mallacoota - where towering columns of smoke turned the sky pitch black and nearby fires caused waves of "ember attacks" - after a change in the wind spared around 4,000 people who had huddled on the foreshore.
Survivors cheered firefighters who battled to protect them by creating a protective ring of fire trucks.
Posted in: ASIA-PACIFIC