Father and Son Found Dead as Brush Fires Spread in Australia: It's 'Very Tragic'
As Australia continues to battle terrifying brushfires that have ravaged much of the country, authorities announced that two bodies — believed to be father and son — were recovered this week.
“Very tragic set of circumstances,” NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys told the BBC. “[They were] obviously trying to do their best with the fire as it came through in the early hours of the morning.”
The bodies were found in the New South Wales town of Corbargo after it was hit by a massive fire on Tuesday.
The brushfire crisis has claimed the lives of at least 10 people and burned through more than 11 million acres since it sparked in September. A seven-day state of emergency was declared on December 23.
On Monday, Grant Crapp, 24-year-old winner of the Australian edition of Love Island, posted a terrifying video of smoke closing in on his property.
Crapp, who won the reality show in 2018, posted footage to his Instagram Stories that showed smoke surrounding his home in New South Wales South Coast.
“We actually can’t even breathe anymore right now,” Crapp said in the video while trying to cover his face with his shirt.
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“It’s actually surreal to feel warm wind. And there’s a fire that’s three kilometres away, it’s f— huge, so we’ve just had to evacuate,” he continued in one of the videos.
“The actual wind is hot from the fire. It’s so scary,” he later added.
Crapp said the smoke was affecting his vision, and later retrieved safety goggles to help him see. He then filmed himself using a hose to water the area around his property.
“What do you reckon, Lucy?” Crapp asked his girlfriend in the video. “We’re in for it, aren’t we, sweetheart?”
In one of the stories, a helicopter is seen retrieving water from the ocean to help extinguish the approaching fire.
The reality star did not give any further updates on Tuesday.
RELATED VIDEO: Mob of Kangaroos Rush to Escape Fires Raging in Southern Australia
Caused by a heatwave, among other factors, the brushfires have proven to be devastating for the local wildlife in Australia.
“When you have very hot, dry, windy conditions, if all of those things come together, a fire can get quickly out of control,” a spokesperson for the Climate Council of Australia told Time. “As the climate is warming up, we’re getting more and more extreme hot days and currently, of course, Australia is in the grip of probably unprecedented heatwave conditions almost right across the continent.”
More than 480 million animals are said to have perished in the flames.
Last month, the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital started a GoFundMe page with hopes of raising $25,000 to help treat koalas who had been rescued from the wildfires. As of Tuesday, they’ve raised more than $2.2 million.
