Aussies Mourn Fire Victims

As bells tolled, mourners throughout Australia prayed at services today for the 209 people killed in wildfires and those still missing, CNN reports. “House is gone, friends are gone. This is total destruction,” said one resident. Rescue teams continue to search through the devastation as firefighters still battled blazes in some areas and prepared for more possible flames in a coming heat wave.

“As a people, we weep for the lost," said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a televised memorial. "We tend the injured. We console the suffering. And yet, our work has barely begun. What we saw on Black Saturday, what we saw at work was the worst of nature, yet the best of humanity.”
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