Backpackers missing after hostel blaze

The smouldering front of the backpackers' hostel in Childers

Two backpackers from Wales are reported missing after a fatal blaze at a backpackers' hostel in Queensland, Australia.

Brisbane police have confirmed that two Welsh people were in the hostel at Childers, near Brisbane.

It is reported that Sarah Williams, from Merthyr Tydfil, and Natalie Morris, from Cefn Coed, are among those listed as missing or unaccounted for.

Ms Williams - one of three friends on a 12-month backpacking holiday in Australia - was due to return home in the next couple of weeks to be a bridesmaid at her brother's wedding.

The third friend, Kelly Symonds, 18, from Aberfan, south Wales, escaped the fire in just the clothes she was wearing.

Five other people from England are among the dead, as well as two Irish people, although it is not clear whether they are from Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

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Four people who were previously unaccounted for have now been found.

About 70 people were rescued by firefighters from the blazing timber building - a converted 100-year-old hotel.

Steve Hiscock, the British Consul General in Brisbane, said an official was on his way to Childers.

Mr Hiscock told BBC Radio Wales that the community in Childers had rallied round tremendously to help survivors of the fire, many of whom escaped in just their underwear.

"They have given people internet access and phone cards so they can contact the families at home," said Mr Hiscock.

He added he was making appeals on Australian TV urging all backpackers to contact their families at home.

Survivors said the blaze spread rapidly and some said they heard no fire alarm

No names of the dead and missing have been released, but local police said they came from the UK, Australia, Holland, Spain, Japan and South Korea.

The cause of the devastating blaze was not immediately known.

Revenge

One local hostel owner said that a backpacker who was kicked out of the hostel a week ago had threatened to seek revenge.

Childers, a Queensland town of 1,500 people, relies on backpackers looking for pocket money to pick vegetables and other produce from nearby farms.

As many as 500 backpackers a day descend on local farms during the season, including some staying in surrounding towns.

David Davies, AM for Monmouth, has expressed his deep sorrow at the news.

Mr Davies was caught up in a fire at a backpackers' hostel when he worked around Australia in 1990.