Death toll in Australian bushfires rises to 10
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-12 09:18

The death toll in bushfires sweeping South Australia state rose to 10 after two more bodies were found on the state's Eyre Peninsula, police said.

Police senior sergeant Kylie Walsh said the bodies were discovered in North Shields, a small township which was virtually destroyed by fire on Tuesday.

Firefighters are confronted by a wall of flames on the South Eastern Freeway at Mount Osmond near Adelaide January 11, 2005. Ten people are now confirmed dead as fires raged on the outskirts of the city of Adelaide and across lower Eyre Peninsula, located around 300 km (180 miles) west of Adelaide. [Reuters]

She said six people were still missing. "However that number is fluid and will change constantly as the day progresses and more information comes to hand," she said.

Walsh said police and State Emergency Service personnel were visiting the fire-damaged properties of those missing to check on them.

Eight people, including two children aged four and two, were burned to death in cars while trying to escape the flames Tuesday.

Five people were found dead on a road near the southern Eyre Peninsula town of Wanilla, two in one vehicle and three in another. Another three people died in a car on the Port Lincoln Highway at the nearby town of Poonindie.

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