Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said he was inclined to cancel an official trip to India planned for this month in order to deal with a bushfire crisis ravaging parts of his country.
Asked by reporters if it was appropriate to leave Australia given the situation, Morrison said he was "inclined not to proceed" with the visit.
Morrison was due to visit India from Jan 13 to 16 at the invitation of Prime Minister Modi.
He was also due to visit Japan from January 16 to 17, but did not mention his intentions on that on Friday.
The Australian navy on Friday began the evacuations of some of the thousands of people stranded on the east coast of the fire-ravaged country as a searing weather front was set to whip up more blazes across the states of Victoria and New South Wales (NSW).
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