LA County Fire urban search and rescue crew members Nicholas Bartel and Eddie Ruiz, along with their cadaver dogs Six and Harper, take a break from searching the rubble of Lahaina. (Image: Robert Gauthier | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images)
Law enforcement officials in Maui are facing a race against time to locate over 1,000 individuals who have been reported missing, following the devastating wildfires that destroyed the town of Lahaina. The number of missing persons is continuously changing as new reports come in and some individuals are found, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill during a press conference on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Maui County officials stated that 850 people were reported missing. As of Tuesday, the fires have claimed the lives of at least 115 individuals. Maui Police Chief John Pelletier announced plans to release an official list of unaccounted persons in the coming days.
To determine who is genuinely missing, the FBI is collaborating with the Maui Police Department, reviewing multiple lists of missing persons from different agencies. So far, out of the initial 2,500 missing persons, law enforcement has located 1,400 individuals, as reported by Merrill. He urged those who have filed missing person reports to contact the FBI with the most precise and up-to-date information via phone or email.
The search teams have completed their examination of all single-story homes in Lahaina and have now turned their focus to combing through multistory residential and commercial buildings in the disaster zone, according to Maui County officials.
Search and recovery team members work alongside search dogs as they inspect charred structures and vehicles after the Maui wildfires. (Image: Yuki Iwamura | Afp | Getty Images)
Pelletier clarified that he cannot guarantee the recovery of all remains from the blazes. He likened the search through the ruins of Lahaina to the recovery operation at ground zero in New York City after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. “2,000 people on 9/11 were not recovered. We don’t have that level of devastation with the towers, but we are dealing with an entire town that has been destroyed,” said Pelletier.
“We need to be realistic here. We will have confirmed deaths and presumed deaths,” Pelletier added. The exact numbers are not available yet, and it will take time to determine. Maui County officials are urging families with missing loved ones to provide DNA samples to aid in identifying the recovered remains in the disaster zone.
Nearly 75% of the DNA samples tested have produced results that can be searched, according to Julie French, an executive at ANDE, the company conducting the rapid tests in Maui. It is important to note that the DNA samples taken from cheek swabs are solely being used for the identification of those who perished in the fires and will not be entered into any other databases for alternative purposes.
Correction: It has been two weeks since the wildfire began that destroyed Lahaina. A previous version of this story inaccurately stated the length of time since the blaze started.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
