Tennis star Ashleigh Barty visits koalas injured in Australia bushfires

BRISBANE, Australia — Australia's world number one Ashleigh Barty visits koalas injured in recent bushfires at an animal hospital in Brisbane as she starts to prepare for the new season.

"In my off season it was one of the first things Garry and I did was come down here and visit the animals, obviously, with all the bushfires that have been going around, on and around our country. It's been terrible and devastating for all the people, but also for the animals," Barty said.

"I think the work the RSPCA do in trying to help as many animals as possible has been incredible, and it's just been nice to come back down and kind of see how they've gone over the last five or six weeks while I've been back in training," she added.

Thousands of holidaymakers and locals were bedding down at beaches in fire-ravaged southeast Australia on New Year's Eve after fleeing deadly blazes that ripped through popular tourist areas and cut off several towns. 

In seaside communities along a 200-kilometre (135-mile) strip of coast, terrified crowds -- wrapped in blankets and wearing make-shift facemasks -- sought refuge from the inferno near the water.

Three people have died, five more are unaccounted for, and scores of properties were feared destroyed after a brutal 24 hours in which flames reached well-populated towns like Batemans Bay, normally bursting with visitors during Australia's summer holidays. —Andrew Beatty