Blaze claims two more victims

MALIBU - Weary firefighters declared the wildfires that roared through Malibu's celebrity enclaves under control yesterday, as the death toll from the blazes rose to three, agencies report.

The bodies of two people were found in the burnt-out remains of a car on Thursday, the bodies so badly charred it was impossible even to establish their sex, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman said. A British film director and screen- writer, Duncan Gibbins, 41, died on Wednesday after suffering burns over 95 per cent of his body while trying to save his cat. The cat survived the fire and was being cared for at an animal centre. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced it would give an annual award, in Gibbins' name, for saving the life of the cat.