The death toll in bushfires sweeping South Australia State rose to 10 after two more bodies were found on the state's Eyre Peninsula, police said.  

Police senior sergeant Kylie Walsh said the bodies were discovered in North Shields, a small township that was virtually destroyed by fire on Tuesday.

She said six people were still missing. "However, that number is fluid and will change constantly as the day progresses and more information comes to hand," she said.

Walsh said police and State Emergency Service personnel were visiting the fire-damaged properties of those missing to check on them.

Eight people, including two children aged four and two, were burned to death in cars while trying to escape the flames Tuesday.

Five people were found dead on a road near the southern Eyre Peninsula town of Wanilla, two in one vehicle and three in another. Another three people died in a car on the Port Lincoln Highway at the nearby town of Poonindie.

(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, January 12, 2005)