Maui wildfires toll hits 89, deadliest in US in more than a century

The death toll in Maui wildfires has increased to 89, officials said. The Indian mission in the United States has expressed grief over the lives lost and devastation caused by wildfires in the US state of Hawaii, an archipelago of volcanic islands in the central Pacific Ocean. 

The death toll from the Maui wildfires is now at 89, officials said on Saturday, making it the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century. Four days after a quick-moving fire destroyed the ancient resort town of Lahaina, Hawaii, melting automobiles and obliterating buildings, the extent of the destruction became more apparent as search teams with cadaver dogs combed through the wreckage.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) projected that it would cost $5.5 billion to reconstruct Lahaina, which had more than 2,200 structures damaged or destroyed and more than 2,100 acres (850 hectares) burnt.

At a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Governor Josh Green issued a dire warning that the death toll will keep rising as more victims were found. After several homeowners questioned whether more might have been done to alert people before the fire engulfed their houses, officials promised to look into the state's emergency communication systems.

The island was equipped with sirens that were supposed to sound in the event of a natural disaster, but none ever did, and other means of notifications were hampered by widespread power and telecommunications failures.

Through a post on the social media platform X, the Indian embassy expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the bereaved during this challenging time.

“Deeply saddened by the devastating wildfires in #Maui, Hawaii. Our hearts go out to the families of the bereaved at this difficult hour. We pray that the local community finds strength and normalcy returns soon," the Indian mission wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The disaster began just after midnight on Tuesday when a brush fire was reported in the town of Kula, roughly 35 miles (56 km) from Lahaina. The death toll made the inferno, which erupted on Tuesday, Hawaii's worst natural disaster in history, surpassing a tsunami that killed 61 people in 1960, a year after Hawaii became a U.S. state. The latest death toll exceeded the 85 people who perished in a 2018 fire in the town of Paradise, California, and was the highest toll from a wildfire since 1918, when the Cloquet fire in Minnesota and Wisconsin claimed 453 lives.