People in the Hawaiian resort town ravaged by a horrific inferno have expressed anger as the death toll from the wildfires rose to 93 on Saturday, making it officially the deadliest US wildfire in more than 100 years.
Officials said the death toll might go up further as search teams continued sifting through the ruins of Lahaina town located on Maui island. The resort town of more than 12,000 people has been reduced to ruins, its lively hotels and restaurants turned to ashes.
The latest figure exceeded the 85 people who perished in a 2018 fire in the town of Paradise, California and was the highest death toll from a wildfire since 1918 when the Cloquet fire in Minnesota and Wisconsin killed 453 people.
At least two other fires have been burning on Maui, with no fatalities reported thus far: in south Maui’s Kihei area and in the mountainous, inland communities known as Upcountry. A fourth broke out Friday evening in Kaanapali, a coastal community north of Lahaina, but crews were able to extinguish it, authorities said.
Source: Aljazeera