Alexandra, Australia - The horrific scenes in one town razed during Australia's wildfire disaster were simply too gruesome to allow surviving residents to return home, officials said on Wednesday.
Victoria state Premier John Brumby said he understood mounting anger among some Marysville residents who fled the firestorm last weekend and wanted to assess the damage to their homes.
But he defended police who have set up roadblocks barring locals from returning to their properties in town, where up to one-fifth of the entire population of 500 may have perished.
"In the Marysville area, there could be somewhere between 50 and 10 lives lost," Brumby told Sky News.
"There are still deceased persons in homes and despite a big police, (fire brigade) and army presence in Marysville they have still not been able to identity and move all bodies.
"You can imagine, if people return to those areas and they return to a house... and there are still deceased persons there, the trauma of this and the impact would be quite devastating."
Police allowed residents into nearby Kinglake late on Tuesday and said locals would be allowed into a third town, Yea, on Wednesday.
Police sergeant Trevor Connell believed many would be unprepared for the devastation that would confront them but it was time to let them see for themselves.
"Since Saturday, they haven't been allowed back to where their home is. There is total devastation and we're still looking for people that are unaccounted for," Connell told the Australian Associated Press.
"They've delayed letting them back in there until it's safe and they're obviously frustrated. At some stage they've got to go back and look and see what the devastation is and I think it's now time to do that and let them start moving on."
He said cars would be allowed back in, two at a time, in a controlled convoy to avoid chaotic scenes. - Sapa-AFP