More than 4,000 people are stranded in the coastal town of Mallacoota as fires broke out everywhere and the smoke turned day to night. The death toll from the fierce forest fires in Southeast Australia in recent days has reached 8.
The Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Choules will arrived in the waters off the town of Mallacoota, Victoria, on the morning of January 2 to evacuate tourists and residents stranded there. The HMAS Choules ship can carry about 1,000 people/trip.
The forest fire also burned down more than 200 houses. The country's government has launched a major rescue campaign to reach thousands of people stranded in coastal towns.
On December 31, 2019, more than 4,000 people poured into the eastern coast of the country and were stranded there as fierce fires from forest fires spread to many coastal towns.
Power outages and damaged telecommunication towers caused phone lines and Internet disruption.
The temperature here could reach hundreds of degrees Celsius and burn down anything. And the ocean is the last resort for those stranded, according to the Victoria State Emergency Management Committee.
In recent days, Australian Defense Forces helicopters, border guards' barges, two ships and helicopters of the gas company Esso have been mobilized to provide food, fuel and drinking water to stranded tourists and residents. The fire broke out fiercely partly because of strong winds carrying the bright red ash.
The Australian government has sent warships, military helicopters and soldiers to support fire fighting and evacuation, and called for support from firefighters in the US and Canada. Thousands of others have also been forced to flee their homes to evacuate to the coast of New South Wales.
It is known that since the beginning of October 2019, more than 200 major forest fires have occurred, burning down 4 million hectares of land and killing at least 11 people in Australia.
