Survivors tell of disaster

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Survivors tell of disaster
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 09, 2009 00:00

KINGLAKE - Survivors of Australia's deadly bushfires yesterday described how a thick blanket of black ash blotted out the sun, leaving only a "horrible orange glow" as flames bore down on their homes.

Residents in the worst hit areas northwest of Melbourne, where most the 96 fatalities occurred, told how they lost loved ones to the flames and desperately tried to help the injured, including children. "Marysville, which was one the loveliest townships in Victoria, if not Australia, has just about been wiped out," said pastor Ivor Jones, whose own home in the town was destroyed.

Kinglake residents who fled ahead of the fire were kept out by police roadblocks when they tried to return yesterday. Chris Harvey, who has lived in the town for 22 years and lost his home, believed authorities were trying to shield locals from the horrors awaiting them. "There's a five-car pile-up on the road into town, all the cars are burnt," Harvey said.

"It's going to look like Hiroshima I tell you, it's going to look like a nuclear bomb. There's animals dead all over the road." Some residents never even had a chance to flee, with Harvey's daughter Victoria telling of a local businessman who lost two of his children as the family prepared to make a dash for safety. "He apparently went to put his kids in the car, put them in, turned around to go grab something from the house, then his car was on fire with his kids in it and they burnt," Victoria said.

Witnesses told of trees "exploding" with the intensity of the heat and recounted fire fronts that raced towards them with terrifying speed. Strathewen resident Mary Avola escaped the flames but her husband of 43 years, Peter, died after they fled their home in separate cars trying to reach a nearby sporting oval.

"He was behind me for a while and we tried to reach the oval but the gates were locked," Avola said. "He just told me to go and that's the last time I saw him." Authorities have found his body.
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