A month after a ferocious fire razed a town in Maui, 66 people remained unaccounted for as workers continued to remove toxic debris from the burn site, a process that could take almost a year, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said on Friday (Sep 8).
The official death toll of the Aug 8 fire that left the historic town of Lahaina in charred ruins still stands at 115 people, a number unchanged in more than two weeks.
Only 60 of those victims had been identified as of Thursday, according to the Maui Police Department.
Officials have said some victims may have been cremated in the blaze, leaving no remains to recover; a final death toll is uncertain, as is the future of the land where Lahaina stood.
Earlier in September, county and federal officials circulated a list of more than 380 people still unaccounted for; by Friday, the list had been reduced to 66 people, the governor said in remarks broadcast online.
While some families wait in limbo, relatives of those confirmed dead face additional difficulties.
Tim Laborte’s stepfather, Joseph Lara, was killed in the fire, his body found a short drive from Lara’s house in his native Lahaina. Now the family are trying to piece together whether a mortgage is owed on Lara’s ruined property and what kind of insurance polices he held.
“His affairs are a mess,” Laborte said. “He didn’t have a will, he didn’t have a trust.”
Source: CNA
