Three hundred eighty-five people remain missing after the devastating Maui fires, authorities updated Friday as recovery efforts continue.
The number of missing individuals had nearly stayed the same since the week before, Fox News reported Saturday.
The outlet also reported:
The Maui Police Department said 245 people on the missing persons list validated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation were found and located. However, a nearly equal number of new names were added, bringing the total down from 388 to 385 missing, a net change of just three.
The updated total was a startling departure from what had been expected — a day earlier Gov. Josh Green said he believed the number would fall below 100.
“We’re going to get a big update tomorrow, and pending that update, we think the numbers dropped down into the double digits, so thank God,” he added:
8/31 Maui Fire Update pic.twitter.com/8SDJE0knlf
— Governor Josh Green (@GovJoshGreenMD) August 31, 2023
The news comes as House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced Tuesday that committee members will investigate the federal government’s response to the deadly Maui fires, Breitbart News reported Wednesday.
“The response by federal, state, and local officials to the catastrophic wildfire in Maui raises serious questions and Americans, especially those impacted by this tragedy, deserve answers,” Comer explained in a statement the outlet obtained.
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However, on Thursday, Green criticized the committee’s plans to investigate.
“The Republicans are pissed off that the Democrats jacked Trump, and they’re going to try to take a pound of flesh. And that’s what goes on in this day and age,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, a resident heading up a grassroots relief effort to help victims of the fire that destroyed the town of Lahaina told Breitbart News that search crews allegedly found more than 450 bodies, the outlet reported Thursday.
“I guarantee you right now, from what has been seen, the number is over 450, and it’s gonna get — it’s gonna get closer to 1,000,” Maui resident Dale Hermo-Fernandez said.
Breitbart News reported Monday that additional information continues to surface about the likely factors that resulted in the deaths of so many people, including children, in Lahaina.
“Some of the factors were known years or months in advance, such as the risk of nonnative grasses, while others were known days in advance of the fire, which so far has officially claimed at least 115 people, with search efforts still underway,” the outlet said.
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