CAPE TOWN, Sept 3: 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.

Fanned by hot, dry, windy conditions, the fires were believed to have been started either by “human negligence or human error” said Mabaso.

The fires occurred mostly to the north of the east coast city of Durban, with Inkandla town among the worst hit. The region remained on alert during its fire warning season. The fires also raged in the south eastern coastal area close to the port town Richards Bay.—Reuters