2 dead, 100 homes lost in Australia bushfires

At least two people have died and 100 homes have been destroyed as an unprecedented number of bushfires tore through eastern Australia Saturday.

New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian also said seven people were unaccounted for, as firefighters tried to contain dozens of out-of-control blazes that have raged in the state since Friday.

“I’m sorry to say that number can increase during the day,” she said of the death toll, adding that despite some respite Saturday,

next week’s weather forecast “could mean we’re not through the worst of it.”

Emergency services said they had found the remains of one person in a car and another woman died despite medics struggling for several hours to save her.

“At this stage, it appears at least 100 homes have been destroyed in yesterday’s bush fires,” the fire service said in an update early Saturday.

More than 30 people have been injured, most of them firefighters.

Almost 100 blazes pockmarked the New South Wales and Queensland countryside -- although just five of them remained highly dangerous.