LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui County launched the names of 388 folks nonetheless lacking Thursday greater than two weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in additional than a century, and officers requested anybody who is aware of an individual on the listing to be secure to contact authorities.
The FBI compiled the listing of names. The variety of confirmed lifeless after fires on Maui that destroyed the historic seaside group of Lahaina stands at 115, a quantity the county mentioned is anticipated to rise.
“We additionally know that after these names come out, it will possibly and can trigger ache for people whose family members are listed,” Police Chief John Pelletier mentioned in an announcement. “This isn’t a straightforward factor to do, however we need to ensure that we’re doing all the pieces we will to make this investigation as full and thorough as doable.”
Names on the listing have been deemed validated if officers had an individual’s first and final identify and a verified contact for the one that reported them lacking, officers mentioned.
An extra 1,732 individuals who had been reported lacking have been discovered secure as of Thursday afternoon, officers mentioned.
On Wednesday, officers mentioned 1,000 to 1,100 names remained on the FBI’s tentative, unconfirmed listing of individuals unaccounted for, however DNA had been collected from solely 104 households, a determine far decrease than in earlier main disasters across the nation.
Hawaii officers had expressed concern that by releasing a listing of the lacking, they might even be figuring out some individuals who have died. Pelletier mentioned Tuesday that his staff confronted difficulties in compiling a stable listing. In some circumstances, folks supplied solely partial names, and in different circumstances names is likely to be duplicated.
Maui County sued Hawaiian Electrical Co. on Thursday, saying the utility negligently didn’t shut off energy regardless of exceptionally excessive winds and dry circumstances. Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from energy traces ignited fires as utility poles snapped within the winds, which have been pushed by a passing hurricane.
Hawaii Electrical mentioned in an announcement it’s “very disenchanted that Maui County selected this litigious path whereas the investigation remains to be unfolding.”