Victoria ramps up search for fire dead

At least 37 people are still known to be missing three weeks after the deadly Victorian bushfires which killed 210 people, an Australian Army chief said on Saturday.

Brigadier Michael Arnold, commander of the Joint Task Force assisting Victorian
authorities in the fire relief effort, said new teams of soldiers would begin
searching devastated properties previously combed for outstanding disaster victims.
Ninety army reservists flew into Melbourne on Saturday to join existing soldiers on
the ground around the Kinglake area in double-checking ruined homes.
Last week, Victorian Coroner Jennifer Coate ordered virtually all bushfire-ravaged
sites to be closely searched again after several sets of human remains were
recovered from sites already searched.
"This is a search task requested of us by the police. The coroner wanted to be
convinced that a reasonable search had been conducted," Brig Arnold said.
"To do that, the police, with us, will go right through the 1,300 or so sites that
were affected by the fire to confirm that there are no more human remains.
"It's not an easy task. We know that there are 37 missing persons still, the odds
are we will come across human remains during this search."
The death toll from February 7 is already the worst of any bushfire disasters in
Australia's history.