UPDATE 2: Australian fires: Maltese-Australian confirmed dead, son missing

A Maltese Australian man, Fred Frendo, has been confirmed dead in the Australian bush fires in Victoria after having been missing for two days on his fire-ravaged farm. His son, Scott, who is in his 20s, is still missing.

The fires have killed more than 200 people in large swathes of Victoria and several Maltese-Australians have reported lucky escapes.

Among them was Carl Agius and his girlfriend Helen Fischer who just managing to escape a wall of flame.

“We’re the luckiest in the world… We only have the clothes on our back but there's hundreds of people dead up there. Hundreds,” Mr Agius, a resident of Kingslake, told Australian media.

He said that he was at his house when he saw the fire coming towards him. Within a few minutes, the sky blackened and there was a wall of flame.

It was then that he jumped into his Mustang and managed to drive to his girlfriend’s house. He got her, her three children, the dogs and the cat – even though “we don’t like the cat” Ms Fischer said – and fled the flames at 70 miles per hour. However, the fire soon caught up with them and the car was “engulfed in flames”, Mr Agius said.

Meanwhile, a Maltese-Australian is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of a woman and her baby from the raging fires in Victoria.

The woman, Eileen Scott, a resident of Traralgon South, spoke of how she spent yesterday thanking a stranger for saving both her and her baby's lives just seconds before her house exploded in a ball of flame.

Ms Scott had drawn the blinds in her home to protect her six-month-old daughter Lily from the searing 44C heat on Saturday afternoon. She was shocked when a woman ran into the house screaming at her to get out.

The woman, Melissa Falzon, rushed through the house, grabbed a sleeping Lily, and ran out just before the house erupted, Ms Scott told the Herald Sun newspaper.

Ms Scott called Ms Falzon her angel: "She just flew into my house. She saved us."

Some distance away, at appropriately named Heartbreak Hill near Wandong, 15 houses were totally destroyed, but Steve and Carmen Spiteri found that their modest house was, somehow, still standing.

"Funny, we couldn't get insurance on the extension because it wasn't finished, but she's still standing," Carmen told the Herald Sun newspaper.

"We bought this block five years ago. It used to be a nudist camp - and such a pretty place in the bush. We bought it off them because we thought this was just the place to bring up the kids."

They have three children - Shayla, 11, Tyler, 10, and Michael 7.

Steve Spiteri said he had been resting on a couch when he suddenly noticed smoke through a window. He didn't hesitate, evacuating his wife and children immediately to safety with some friends.

The Spiteris managed to get back in time to save their home, flames licking the back steps as a shed, where many of their precious possessions were stored, burnt fiercely 100m away.

"I was petrified; never been so scared," said Ms Spiteri.

"And I was wearing a dress, not even jeans. I was so frightened I would catch on fire, too."

The Maltese High Commissioner to Australia, Francis Tabone told timesofmalta.com that the situation in Victoria was “very sad”. He said that although this time the fires had overwhelmed them, the Australians were very well-equipped against bush fires.

“One has to keep in mind that Australia has experienced drought these past seven years and to top it all, the temperatures soared to 45 degrees Celsius. With that kind of heat, even a glass bottle lying around in the bush can start a fire,” he said.

Mr Tabone explained how the area was mostly farmland and one’s closest neighbour could be five or 10km away. “Yet they’re still neighbours. Unless you see it, it’s difficult to understand this concept when you come from Malta.”

Mr Tabone said that no official list of the victims' names has been published yet. According to reports, the fires have so far claimed over 200 lives.

The High Commissioner urged anyone needing information to log on to www.dfat.gov.au or call the Australian Red Cross hotline on (+61) 3 9328 3716.