Australia bushfire toll reaches 29

Sydney, Jan 19 (IANS) An 84-year-old man in Australia who was being treated for burns sustained in the bushfires ravaging the country has died, taking the national toll to 29, police said on Sunday.The man, a resident of the town of Cobargo, had since December 31, 2019 remained admitted in a hospital in Sydney, the capital of the state of New South Wales, where he passed away on Saturday morning, reports Efe news.The bushfire in Cobargo, which has 776 inhabitants, has also claimed the lives of another two people, a 63-year-old man and his 29-year-old son. Rainfall and falling temperatures in recent days have helped firefighters contain dozens of active blazes in Victoria and New South Wales, the hardest hit state where 21 of the deaths have been recorded.Since September 2019, the blazes have destroyed more than 80,000 square km, an area larger than Ireland or Panama, charring more than 2,000 houses.Up to 1 billion animals, mainly mammals, birds and reptiles, are estimated to have been affected by the devastating fires, according to Australian ecologists.
--IANS ksk/