Fire rages on as evacuees prepare for a long wait

A wildfire ripping through Canada's oil sands region blazed for a seventh day on Sunday as officials warned almost 100,000 people who fled the area that they would not be returning home soon.

The fire, which started at 6 pm eastern (2200 GMT) last Sunday near the town of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, spread so quickly that the town's 88,000 inhabitants barely had time to leave. Large parts of the town no longer exist.

Officials said that, even though the fire had largely pushed through Fort McMurray and was heading quickly northeast through dry boreal forests, the town was still too dangerous to enter.