Honolulu (US), Sep 2: The number of people on the official list of those missing from the Maui wildfire stood at 385 on Friday, nearly unchanged from a week earlier.
In a news release, the Maui Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said 245 people on the list of 388 made public the previous week were located and removed from the list. However, a nearly equal number of new names were added.
The updated total was a startling departure from what had been expected – a day earlier Governor Josh Green said he had expected the number would fall below 100.
“We think the number has dropped down into the double digits, so thank God,” Green said in a video posted to his account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Authorities have said at least 115 people died in the fire, which tore through Lahaina in a matter of hours on August 8 – the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century.
So far, the names of 50 people have been publicly released and five others have been identified but their identities withheld because next of kin haven’t been reached. The rest have yet to be identified.
Initially more than 1,000 people were believed unaccounted for based on family, friends or acquaintances reporting them as missing.
Officials narrowed that list down to 388 names, who were credibly considered missing and released the list of names to the public last week. The missing list is compiled by the FBI and includes only “credible” names, defined as a first and last name provided by a person with a verified contact number. (AP)
