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| Thousands of firefighters and soldiers are struggling to control dozens of wildfires [EPA] |
Australia's prime minister has said that the deaths of at least 170 people in wildfires, many of which are believed to be the result of arson, amount to "mass murder"
Kevin Rudd said that he feared the "numbing" death toll would rise further as emergency workers reached communities devastated by the fires which have swept across three states in southern Australia.
"This is of a level of horror that few of us anticipated. There are no words to describe it other than mass murder," he told Australian television.
Some of the fires eased on Monday but thousands of firefighters and soldiers continued to battle dozens of blazes across an area of about 3,000 sq km across the states of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.
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"There are no words to describe it other than mass murder"
Kevin Rudd,
Australian prime minister
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The authorities expect the toll to rise as they search for scores of missing in more than 750 burnt-out homes and completely destroyed towns.
Chris Harvey, a survivor of a massive fire that tore through several small towns north of Melbourne on Saturday night, told local media that it was a "most horrible day".
"It's going to look like Hiroshima, I tell you. It's going to look like a nuclear bomb," he said.
Arson probe
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| Many people died in cars trying to flee the raging fire [AFP] |
Police have launched arson investigations and say they are considering parts of the disaster areas, as crime scenes.
Kieran Walshe, the police deputy commissioner for Victoria state, said the speed at which some of the fires took off indicated they might have been deliberately lit.
"Some of these fires have started in localities that could only be by hand, it could not be natural causes," he said.
Mike Rann, the premier of South Australia state, said on Sunday at least 20 per cent of the fires in his state were started by arsonists and another 20 per cent were the result of "stupidity or negligence".
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| The fire is raging across three states in southeastern Australia |
"These people are terrorists within our nation, they are the enemy within and we have to be increasingly vigilant about them," he said.
Arsonists were also relighting fires that had been brought under control, a fire authority official in Victoria said.
"We know we do have someone who is lighting fires in this community," Steve Warrington, a deputy chief of firefighting operations, told local radio.
"While we often think it is spotting [embers spreading flames], we also know that there are people lighting fires deliberately."
Deadly weather
Wildfires are a natural annual event in Australia, with the worst ones killing 75 people and razing 2,500 homes in Victoria in 1983.
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| More than 750 homes and entire small towns have been destroyed [AFP] |
But a combination of scorching weather, drought and tinder-dry bush this year has created prime conditions for the deadliest infernos yet.
Blair Trewin, a climatologist with the National Climate Centre in Melbourne, told Al Jazeera that "they are the most extreme conditions that we have ever seen in historic record in parts of southeastern Australia".
Fierce winds fanned the fires and pushed them in unpredictable directions in Victoria on Sunday, after temperatures reached a state record of 47 degrees Celsius.
Rudd has said it will take years to rebuild some of the devastated rural towns and has announced a A$10m ($6.8m) aid package.
"Everyone should dig deep. It's not just the next day or two, it's the next year or two, the rebuilding of these communities," he said.
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