Australia & Pacifics

SYDNEY, Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Australia’s most populous state declared its second state of state of emergency in two months on Thursday as extreme heat and strong winds were expected to fan scores of uncontrolled bushfires.

Firefighters were given broad powers to control government resources, force evacuations, close roads and shut down utilities across New South Wales state, where 100 wildfires are burning.

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Two volunteer firefighters died Thursday while battling wildfires ravaging Australia’s most populous state, forcing Prime Minister Scott Morrison to cut short his family holiday as authorities braced for temperatures to soar in New South Wales at the weekend.

CANBERRA, Dec 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has come under fire for going on holiday with his family, while bush-fires continue to burn across the country.

Responding to news of the holiday, members of the Opposition Labour Party accused the prime minister of abandoning rural communities, currently battling bush-fires in his home state of New South Wales (NSW).

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales declared a seven-day state of emergency Thursday as oppressive conditions fanned around 100 wildfires.

Around 2,000 firefighters were battling the blazes, half of which remain uncontrolled, with the support of U.S. and Canadian backup teams and personnel from the Australian Defence Force.

18 December 2019; AFP: Australia this week experienced its hottest day on record and the heatwave is expected to worsen, exacerbating an already unprecedented bushfire season, authorities said Wednesday.

The average nationwide temperatures of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday beat the previous record of 40.3 degrees Celsius in January 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

SYDNEY, Dec 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Fire authorities in Australia are locked in a desperate battle to save a coal mine and a power station today (Tuesday), that have come under threat from a massive bush-fire northwest of Sydney, which local media dubbed the “mega-blaze.”

Already burning through 400,000 hectares of vegetation at Gospers Mountain and the Wollemi National Park, there are now fears the wildfire could spread even further, with temperatures expected to reach 46 degrees Celsius in coming days, as an extreme heatwave bears down on the nation’s east coast.

WELLINGTON, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Questions need to be asked and answered with regard to the casualties caused by the White Island volcanic eruption, said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday.

"There remain now questions to be asked and questions to be answered," Ardern reiterated during her weekly press conference on Monday afternoon, "What I want to make sure is we answer all the questions we need to answer, but that we don't duplicate."

WELLINGTON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- A 16th person has been confirmed dead in an Australian hospital following the White Island deadly eruption in New Zealand, the New Zealand Police said on Sunday.

The authority did not release the victim's name or age at the request of his family.

Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said that with three helicopters and eight members on board, the united squad of search team left for White island early Sunday morning.

"Unfortunately, we did not locate a body," he said.

WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AP) — Police divers working in near zero visibility in contaminated waters around New Zealand’s volcanic White Island tried Saturday to find the remaining two victims of an eruption that left at least 16 dead and dozens severely burned.

Ash and other fallout from Monday’s eruption has made the sea near the island toxic and divers have to be washed clean after every completed dive. Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims called search conditions “unique and challenging.”

WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand military specialists recovered six bodies from a small volcanic island Friday days after an eruption claimed at least eight other lives and left a toxic and volatile landscape.

The eight specialists wearing protective clothing and using breathing apparatuses landed by helicopter and found six of the bodies thought to remain on White Island since the eruption Monday. The bodies were airlifted to a ship near the island off New Zealand’s eastern coast where scientists and other police and military personnel monitored the risky operation.