At least eight people including two children are reported to have died as bushfires fanned by searing temperatures and strong winds raged through parts of South Australia state.
At least one of the dead is believed to have perished in a farmhouse.
Two major fires burning on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula broke out at around 10.30am. Another fire was burning near Mount Osmond to the east of the state's capital, Adelaide.
The Eyre Peninsula blaze was the most severe of numerous bushfires reported throughout the state, including two separate blazes which forced the closure of highways on Adelaide's southern and southeastern outskirts.
