Australia bushfire death toll reaches 29

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.

Sydney: 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.

The man, a resident of the town of Cobargo, had since December 31, 2019, remained admitted in a hospital in Sydney where he passed away on Saturday morning.

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.