Death toll in Maui wildfire rises to 96, churches offer prayers

Monday, August 14, 2023

The number of people confirmed to have died in the fires has now risen to 96, according to a news release early Monday from Maui County.

That update is as of 9:45 p.m. Sunday local time (3:45 a.m. Monday ET).

Parishioners mourned the dead and prayed for the missing Sunday in Hawaii churches as communities began looking ahead to a long recovery from last week’s wildfire that demolished a historic Maui town.

About 46,000 residents and visitors have flown out of Kahului Airport in West Maui since the devastation in Lahaina became clear Wednesday, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Crews with cadaver dogs have covered just 3% of the search area, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said Saturday.

The cause of the wildfires is under investigation. The fires are Hawaii’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people.

An even deadlier tsunami in 1946 killed more than 150 on the Big Island.

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