76 dead in Australian wildfires

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Source: CCTV.com | 02-09-2009 09:11

Towering flames have razed the entire town of Maryville in southeastern Australia. And according to authorities on Sunday, some of the fleeing residents were burned alive in their cars.

76 dead in Australian wildfires

The death toll from the country's worst fire disaster in a quarter-century has reached 76.

Officials said at least 640 homes were destroyed in Saturday's inferno. Searing temperatures and wind blasts produced a firestorm that swept across a swath of the country's Victoria state, where all the deaths occurred.

A vicitim said, "All I've got left is what I stand up in, and my bag. And my house, my house of 25 years is gone. I've worked so hard to get that house."

Thousands of exhausted volunteer firefighters were still battling nine uncontrolled fires on Sunday in Victoria, though conditions had eased considerably.