A 100th victim of the fires that ravaged Maui last summer has been identified, police on this island in the Hawaiian archipelago said Friday.
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According to a press release, the victim is a 70-year-old woman, Lydia Coloma. The number of people still missing has now fallen to a handful.
Since the fire that almost leveled the tourist town of Lahaina on Maui on August 8th, the search for bodies and their identification has been very difficult.
To identify the unrecognizable remains found in thousands of buildings reduced to ash heaps, authorities asked relatives of the missing to provide a DNA sample.
In September, the disaster's preliminary death toll was revised downwards to 97 deaths. But after more victims died of their injuries and more bodies were discovered in the following weeks, the number rose to 100.
The devastating fire nearly destroyed Lahaina, the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and is the deadliest fire in the United States in more than a century.
The leadership of the authorities under investigation has been widely criticized, particularly because the warning sirens intended in the event of a tsunami, volcanic eruption or fire never sounded.
Many Lahaina residents were caught in the fire at the last moment and dozens had to throw themselves into the sea to escape the flames.
Some fire hydrants also ran out of water or pressure.
Hawaii's main electric utility, Hawaiian Electric, is also the subject of several complaints accusing it of negligence for failing to shut off power despite a clear warning from the weather service.
Before the fire devastated Lahaina, the archipelago was under fire alarm as Hurricane Dora, which hit the Pacific several hundred kilometers off the coast, caused strong winds.