The death toll from bush fires in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province has risen to 20, an official said on Wednesday.

The fires affected 1,100 households, destroyed scores of livestock and left swathes of crop and grazing land smouldering.
Lennox Mabaso, a spokesman for the local government ministry, said damages were expected to run into millions of rand (dollars).
"So far the official figure that we have at the disaster centre is 20 confirmed deaths, but the figures remain preliminary," Mabaso told Reuters.

Choking smoke from forest fires hung over parts of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia on Friday, forcing a delay in flights and prompting fears that conditions could worsen because of lack of rain, officials said.

About 450 fires have been detected across Indonesia, and forestry officials have warned that the number could exceed the total of 35,000 reported last year, as the dry season this year is likely to be marked by less rain than usual.

Hyderabad, July 20: Forest fire causes major disaster to the vegetation in the state. Forest fires amount to 13.53 per cent of total blazes in the country. After Mizoram and Orissa, Andhra Pradesh has the largest number of fire spots according to the ministry of environment and forest department. Khammam, Kadapa and Prakasam figure in the list of top 30 districts with the highest number of fire incidents.

China's northeastern region and Inner Mongolia are facing the highest spring fire risk in 60 years, the State Headquarters for Forest Fire Control (shffc) has warned. Rainfall in the region