Australia's deadly bushfire kills 108

By Simone Giuliani

WHITTLESEA, Australia (Reuters) - Australia's deadliest bushfire crisis eased on Monday, but the death toll kept rising with at least 108 people killed as families searched for scores of missing in the twisted, charred ruins.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the bushfires, some of which police believe were deliberately lit, constituted "mass murder," with media reporting the death toll could reach 170 as authorities searched hundreds of burned-out homes.

"This is of a level of horror that few of us anticipated. There are no words to describe it other than mass murder," Rudd told Australian television. "These numbers (dead) are numbing...and I fear they will rise further."

The previous worst bushfire tragedy was in 1983 when 75 people were killed in the "Ash Wednesday" fires.

A massive bushfire tore through several small towns north of Melbourne on Saturday night destroying everything in its path. Many people died in cars trying to flee the inferno, others were killed huddled in their homes, yet some miraculously escaped by diving into pools and farm reservoirs or hiding in their cellar.

"It was a most horrible day. It's going to look like Hiroshima, I tell you. It's going to look like a nuclear bomb. There are animals dead all over the road," survivor Dr Chris Harvey told the local media.

More than 750 houses were destroyed and some 78 people, with serious burns and injuries, are in hospital.

Thousands of firefighters continued on Monday to battle the fire and scores of other blazes across the southern state of Victoria, as well as fires in New South Wales state.