2023-08-26 09:28:49
More than two weeks after the deadliest fires in a century in the United States, which killed at least 115 people on the island of Maui, authorities in Hawaii still list 388 people missing. They published an official list of names on Thursday evening, asking for help from their relatives. They hope to advance research to determine the true extent of the tragedy.
“We need your help,” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said in a video message, asking the public to contact the FBI if a name on the list matches someone safe and sound. The document includes only individuals for whom a name, first name, and the contact of the person who reported their disappearance have been provided, said John Pelletier.
Tuesday evening, the federal police had explained to identify another 1,100 missing. How that number fell to 388 in the space of two days was not immediately clear. Asked by AFP, the authorities of Hawaii had not yet given an explanation Friday at midday.
A balance sheet that could increase
Since the disaster, the local authorities have asked the FBI to intervene to standardize the data of numerous lists circulating on social networks or in accommodation centers, which listed thousands of missing persons. The publication of the official list of missing on social media has prompted several comments from people claiming that some names match those of safe and sound people. Many survivors have thus been identified and located.
The authorities expect, however, that the human toll of the disaster, already very heavy, will increase. Searching some charred buildings is proving extremely difficult and will likely take weeks more.
The identification of the victims, whose corpses are often unrecognizable and require comparison with family DNA, is also laborious: only 46 bodies – for the vast majority of adults of a certain age, but also a 7-year-old child – have been identified so far.
The list method had already been used by US authorities after the Camp Fire, a large fire that killed 85 people in California in 2018 and after which 1,300 people were initially missing.
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