Maui names 388 people who find themselves still missing

Maui police and the FBI have named 388 people who find themselves still missing nearly three weeks after the deadly wildfires that destroyed the town of Lahaina.

The FBI compiled and validated the list after receiving the missing individuals’ first and last names from someone with a verified contact number, based on a Maui County statement issued late Thursday.

Maui County called on the general public to contact the FBI as soon as possible in the event that they can confirm that any of the people listed as missing are in actual fact protected. 

The list might be viewed on Maui County’s website. The FBI might be reached at (808) 566-4300 or HN-COMMAND-POST@ic.fbi.gov. 

The names were released on the identical day Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric for damages over its alleged role in triggering the wildfires.

The lawsuit alleges that the utility company was negligent when it didn’t shut off power despite warnings from the National Weather Service that prime winds and drought conditions created a high fire risk.

Maui County accused the corporate of failing to properly maintain its utility poles. The county said wood poles owned by the corporate were severely damaged from advanced decay, increasing the danger that they might topple in the course of the winds and cause a hearth.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said the county understands releasing the names will cause pain for the families of those that are missing, but he stressed that authorities are determined to conduct as thorough of an investigation as possible.

The FBI and Maui police have confirmed that greater than 1,700 people originally listed as missing after the wildfires are protected and accounted for. 

No less than 115 individuals are confirmed to have perished within the blazes. The Maui wildfires are the deadliest within the U.S. in greater than a century and the worst disaster in Hawaii state history.

Pelletier said earlier this week he cannot guarantee that the stays of everyone who died will likely be found. 

The police chief compared the search through the ruins of Lahaina to the recovery operations at ground zero in Recent York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

“Realistically, let’s be honest here, we’re going to have plenty of confirmed, we’re going to have plenty of presumed,” Pelletier said at a press conference Tuesday. “I should not have that number now. We’re going to work diligently to get that. It could take some time.”

“Two thousand people on 9/11 weren’t recovered. We do not have that variety of devastation with the towers like we saw there, but we now have a whole town that’s destroyed,” Pelletier said.