Australia’s deadliest bushfire has killed at least 93 people, some as they fled in cars or as they huddled in houses when the inferno engulfed rural towns in the country’s southeast.
The fire storm tore through several small towns north of Melbourne on Saturday night destroying everything in its path. One family was forced to dive into a farm reservoir to survive while others took refuge in a community shed with firefighters standing between them and a wall of flames.
A badly burned man in the town of Kinglake, where there were many fatalities, was kept alive for six hours by being partially submerged by friends in a pool until help arrived.
“It rained fire,” said one survivor, showing his singed shirt. “We hid in the olive grove and watched our house burn.”