Hawaii wildfires: Over thousand people still missing

Over 1,000 people are still missing after a fire burned through the town of Lahaina in Hawaii two weeks ago, according to officials.

Officials will soon release a list of the people who are missing so that they can better look for them.

Some search teams are looking through the debris and are only finding bones or small pieces of bodies. This makes the job hard.

Currently, 115 people have been confirmed to have died.

On August 8th, the fires devastated a large part of the old town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. These fires are now seen as the most severe natural disaster to ever happen in Hawaii.

At a meeting with reporters on Tuesday, FBI special agent Steven Merrill who is in charge of the search said: “We may not know everything about everyone in the end. ”

“We are looking at everyone on that list until we can show that they are not on that list. ”

About 1,400 out of the original 2,500 missing people have been located. However, officials have had a hard time determining the exact number of people who are missing.

“Every day, the numbers will be different,” Mr Merrill commented. The new guess for the number of missing people comes after Maui mayor Richard Bissen said it was around 850.

Officials don’t know how many of the over 1000 missing people are believed to be dead.

Groups of people with special dogs have been searching the area that was burned for dead bodies. The very hot fire has made things difficult because some search teams are only finding bones or small pieces of bodies in piles of ashes.

The authorities are asking family members to give their DNA to assist in identifying the victims.

According to Julie French from ANDE, a DNA analysis company, they have gathered at least 104 samples to make family trees or pedigrees.

The amount of money that the damage caused is believed to be around $6 billion or £4. 7 billion

Officials have revealed the names of the 13 people who lost their lives in the fire. These people include someone who loves music, kind grandmothers, and a motivating father.