Maui authorities are drastically underestimating the number of people known to have died in the inferno that ravaged Lahaina last week. Locals told the true death toll was at least 480 and morgues were out of body bags.
The number is four times the official figure of 111 – and some of the victims’ families were forced to uncover the remains of their loved ones themselves due to the frigid progression of the search and recovery operation.
On Tuesday, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said only 25 percent of the affected town had been searched, although he expected that number to rise to 85 percent by Saturday.
But photos taken by on Wednesday showed hundreds of cars and vehicles that have still not been searched – just a handful of them were marked with an orange X to show they had been searched.
Maui residents say the true death toll from wildfires so far is likely closer to 480 and reveal that the MPD morgue (pictured) ran out of body bags when the ongoing search and recovery operation in Lahaina began
The rising death toll means authorities have also had to deploy mobile morgues with five refrigerated trucks outside the Maui Police Department Coroner’s Office to store the remains of the fire victims. Photos from showed an aerial view of a body bag being loaded into a refrigerated truck at the MPD morgue on Thursday
Officially, the death toll from Maui’s wildfire on Thursday reached at least 111, but locals claim the real number is four times that number
That’s still too slow for Allisen Medina, 24, who has lived on Maui for five years and has spent the past two weeks making perilous trips to Lahaina to help burned-out residents.
In an exclusive interview with , she said: “People have been conducting their own recovery.”
“I know there are at least 480 dead here on Maui and I don’t understand why that is.” [the authorities] I’m not saying that. Maybe it has something to do with DNA or something.
Allisen Medina, who has spent the past two weeks helping displaced wildfire victims in Lahaina, said some discovered the charred remains of their own loved ones
“I know they ran out of body bags the first night or two and had to bring some over from the mainland.”
Allisen says the slow recovery process has meant family members have had to find the charred bodies of loved ones themselves, including a friend of hers who lost four family members.
She told : “I have a personal friend who lost her parents, her sister and her 10-year-old nephew.” She walked inside [to Lahaina] and saw her there.’
She added, “It’s 100 percent not being done enough, so people are doing it themselves.” “The government, the charities — they’re not doing anything.”
She added, “We have a right to know what’s going on.” FEMA came here to help with the recovery [process] but we don’t see them.
“We’re only 100 miles from Oahu, which has several military bases.” Why is the response so poor? Why are they doing so little? Why is nothing else done?’
Allisen also criticized Herman Andaya, the chief of emergency services who made the decision not to sound Maui’s emergency sirens, telling a press conference that they were associated with tsunamis and not fires.
She said, “Why didn’t they turn on the sirens?” They’re not just there for tsunamis – go to their website and it says they’re there for fires, other disasters and everything else.
“What he said is so disgusting and disrespectful – does he really think people would walk towards the fire without looking out and seeing it?”
Authorities had set up a mobile morgue to keep bodies cool while they try to identify the remains
Salvage teams can be seen across Lahaina sifting through burned debris in search of the thousand people who are still being held accountable
Cars and buildings marked with an “X” can be seen across the city, indicating they have been searched, but hundreds more remain to be inspected
The bodies recovered were burned beyond recognition and authorities are now asking friends and family of the missing persons to submit their DNA so the remains of their loved ones can be identified
Workers, including members of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, stand in front of refrigerated trucks at the MPD Morgue Office in Maui
Other stories supporting Allisen’s account have also come to light: Southwest flight attendant Sarah Trost, 30, from Sacramento, Calif., posted a video on TikTok Tuesday sharing details of a conversation with a part-time morgue worker who her shuttle from here went from the airport to her hotel that day.
Trost said the man also told her that 480 people have been confirmed dead, Allisen claims, and that authorities have only searched 13 percent of Lahaina so far.
The morgue employee, who is volunteering with the search, also described finding numerous bodies, adding that many were families – including young children – who had died in their homes in each other’s arms and couldn’t escape the flames.
“He found so many children, children and mothers holding each other. Babies, toddlers, the unimaginable. Husbands and wives, altogether [families] “crammed into one room and burned,” Trost said.
“These are all bones.” So he grabs the bones with the ashes and shovels them into body bags. “They no longer have room on the island in the morgue, so they’re being shipped in containers to hold these body bags.”
Many of the bodies were unrecognized by the fire, and authorities have urged friends and family of the more than 1,000 people still missing to submit their DNA so the remains of their loved ones can be identified.
Rescue teams have arrived with cadaver dogs to search areas devastated by last week’s Lahaina wildfire
Maui’s mayor said only 25 percent of the affected city had been searched, but he expects that number to rise to 85 percent by Saturday
However, the slow recovery process has meant family members have had to find the charred bodies of their loved ones themselves, local residents say
As of Thursday, only five people had been officially identified, with just two publicly named after their families were informed: Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, who both lived in Lahaina.
The rising death toll means authorities have also had to deploy mobile morgues with five refrigerated trucks outside the Maui Police Department Coroner’s Office to store the remains of the fire victims.
Photos taken by on Thursday show bodies are still being recovered from the rubble at Lahaina, with eight body bags arriving during the morning.
Allisen says the challenge for locals like her now is to help fire victims who have lost everything while giving islanders time to mourn.
She has traveled to Lahaina multiple times to get supplies for burned-out families, but said she’s fed up with FEMA and the American Red Cross not distributing the goods quickly enough and “loading everything with bureaucracy.”
She said, “The Red Cross was four days late and they are doing nothing.” They are supposed to help, not just stand around.
She added, “We don’t want you to burden everything with bureaucracy here.” FEMA says it doesn’t have the resources to distribute everything that’s been donated. They’re hoarding the same things we distributed.’
Andaya made the comments to commissioners in recent years after monthly tests showed some weren’t working, and in one case after a false alarm, the publication reported. A reporter at Wednesday’s conference also appeared to question Andaya’s resume, doubting that he had no emergency management experience before taking office in 2017. He was a former mayor’s chief of staff. The press representative then asked if he would consider handing over further responsibility to someone else. Andaya said the claim that he had no experience prior to assuming his current position was “not true”.
Both Governor Green (pictured) and Maui Mayor Richard Bissen defended Andaya against the journalist’s quasi-accusations. Green agreed that his reaction to hearing the sirens would be to expect a tsunami. Governor Green confirmed on Wednesday that the death toll has risen to 110, even though search teams have searched only 38 percent of the affected area. Officials, including Green, said the death toll is likely to continue rising over the next few weeks. There is growing concern that among the dead are many children who were at home because schools were closed and parents had to work.
Allisen hopes the support and recovery efforts will now be accelerated to give locals a chance to mourn, but said she would like the outpouring of sympathy from around the world to mean continued support for the recovery process.
She said, “We’re getting a lot of support now, but it’s going to be a long road.” People come here from all over the world.
“If they want to come here, I hope they continue to support us in the long run.”
She added, “I’m in no way a victim but I have a platform and it’s my responsibility to share what I’ve seen.”
“It’s not about me, but I want to do whatever I can to help.”