Bushfire death toll hits 200
2009-02-17 11:41
Sydney - The death toll in Australia's
deadliest bushfires reached 200 on Tuesday as police continued
to search through ash and rubble of several razed towns in the
southern state of Victoria.
Australia has launched its biggest arson investigation into
the fires, fanned by a heatwave and strong winds, which swept
through towns north of Melbourne on February 7.
"The toll has risen from 189 to 200," a police spokesperson
told Reuters, but declined to give any more detail of where
bodies of more victims were found.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described the fires, with at
least one deliberately lit, as "mass murder". A man has been
charged with "arson causing death" over one of the deadly
bushfires, which killed 21 people.
In Victoria, arson carries a jail term of two to 15 years,
and 25 years if there's loss of life.
The bushfire tragedy is the worst natural disaster in
Australia in 110 years. The previous worst bushfire was the Ash
Wednesday fires of 1983 which killed 75 people.