A body has been found in the burnt out wreckage of a backpacker hotel.
Emergency services arrived at the Barnacles Backpackers in Bowen in North Queensland’s Whitsundays region around 3.30am on Wednesday to find the accommodation up in flames.
Initial information indicated that eight occupants self-evacuated the burning building safely and were all accounted for. There were no reports of injuries at the time.
Firefighters battled the blaze for more than an hour.
A crime scene was declared and investigations commenced.
A body has since been found in the gutted hostel, which is yet to be identified.
Police remained at the scene on Wednesday night – almost 24 hours after the blaze.
Confronting footage showed the hostel fully engulfed in flames as shocked onlookers watched on.
Neighbours heard explosions and a ‘whistling sound’ shortly before the hostel burst into the flames.
‘It was about that time we heard the explosions/big bangs going off,’ one woman told the Whitsunday Times.
‘Probably just went for a few minutes with the explosions, some quite loud and some more just like fireworks going off.
‘I was totally shocked how quickly the fire got huge from hearing the sirens to seeing huge flames above the big trees.’
Another added: ‘It was quite big, quite scary.’
Described online as the oldest working hostel in Bowen, the accommodation was popular with backpackers on working visas staying in the region for seasonal jobs such as fruit-picking.
Anyone who with information, dashcam or CCTV is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
More to come.
