Maui wildfires: More than 1,100 missing, death toll at 115

More than 1,100 people are still missing two weeks after the deadly wildfires in Hawaii's Maui island, authorities said on Tuesday (August 22). According to a report by the news agency AFP on Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was seeking the help of family members in identifying the remains of the dead. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Special Agent Steven Merrill said that the FBI was working to collate and verify the data.

"We're cross-referencing all the lists so that we can determine who in fact truly is still unaccounted for," Merrill said, adding that as of Tuesday, the agency counted 1,100 missing persons, with the number likely to go up. The FBI set up a dedicated telephone hotline and has encouraged relatives of the missing to contact them.

"We really need the public's help,"Merrill further told reporters, particularly in terms of getting additional information to verify details for some of the missing.

Death toll climbs to at least 115

The death toll due to the wildfires has climbed to 115. AFP reported that FBI agents have also been collecting DNA samples from the families of the missing who are unable to travel to Maui. So far, only 27 of the 115 victims have been identified. On Tuesday, Maui police chief John Pelletier said that a thorough search was being carried out but some victims had been so badly burned that it was impossible to recover any more than ashes.

The fires, which started the night of August 8, wreaked widespread destruction in Lahaina. The town was all but wiped off the map, with thousands of missing persons appearing on lists maintained by various organizations, including the police, Red Cross and shelters.

"We are going to do this right, we're not going to do it fast. We cannot be in a rush to judgment. We've got one chance. And when this is all said and done, realistically, let's be honest here, we're going to have a number of confirmed. We're going to have a number of presumed."

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