Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said there were “significant concerns” for the unaccounted. The premier also warned that the number of those missing could rise, as many residents refused to abandon their homes, in desperate attempts to save their properties. Mr Andrews told reporters on Thursday: “There are at least 17 people that at this stage we cannot account for.
“Their whereabouts are unknown to us.
“It may be some of those people are safe but we hold very significant fears for the welfare of anybody who is missing at this time.”
His statement comes just days after a 67 year-old man was confirmed to have died at his home as a raging inferno ripped through the town of Buchan.
Mike Roberts failed to make contact with his family for more than 24 hours before his niece Leah Parson revealed that he had become the latest victim of the devastating fires.
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Currently, 1,000 firefighters are trying to control 51 fires blazing their way across eastern Victoria.
The Australian Navy has been drafted in to help the firefighters tackle the bushfires.
The Navy was trying to evacuate as many as 4,000 people on Thursday from the coastal holiday town of Mallacoota.
Both residents and tourists were forced to flee to the beach to escape the flames and spent New Year’s Eve there.
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The Victorian premier admitted that the scale and severity of the fires were the worst that the region had experienced in years.
And with temperatures set to reach 40 degrees Celsius by the weekend, there seems little sign of a respite from the infernos.
The hot weather, along with hot winds and possible thunderstorms, looks likely to increase the risk of new fires, as well as fanning the current blazes.
Victoria’s Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Management, Chris Stephenson, has urged people to leave the region before the fires reach them.