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Queensland's Worst Fire Tragedy Claims 15 Lives
Fifteen foreign backpackers were killed and three missing in a fire at a hostel in Australian Queensland town of Childers, about 300 km (185 miles) north of Brisbane, Australian officials said on Friday.
"Police have confirmed 15 of the 18 unaccounted people are dead," Childers Mayor Bill Trevor told reporters.
"Fire officers are still trying to get access to parts of the building, hampered by the lack of floor, and hope to complete the search by lunchtime, but it is not looking good. It is a total tragedy."
Trevor said 62 people survived the fire at the hostel where backpackers from Britain, Japan,Korea, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand were staying. Many were working as fruitpickers at nearby farms.
"One or two (Britons) who are safe have telephoned their families, but that's all we know at the moment," a spokesman for the British Foreign Office told Reuters.
Several survivors needed hospital treatment for smoke inhalation and other minor injuries but were quickly discharged.
Shocked survivors told how they escaped out of windows and fled across the roofs of nearby buildings as the Palace Backpackers, a converted 100-year-old timber hotel, was engulfed in flames and smoke.
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