Photo: MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images
Hawaii Governor Josh Greene announced that the death toll from the devastating Maui wildfires was lower than officials originally thought. After conducting DNA testing, the death toll was lowered to 97, down from 115.
John Byrd, laboratory director with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, also noted that the numbers were likely inflated due to the chaos following the wildfires, which were the deadliest in more than a century.
"We look at body bags that come in, and we do an initial inventory, and we assess how many people are represented there,” Byrd explained during a press conference on Friday (September 15). “When you do the first tally of all those that have come in, the number tends to be too high because as you begin to do more analysis and examination, you realize that actually you’ve got two bags that were the same person or you have two bags that were the same two people, but you didn’t realize that.”
“The numbers start a little too high on the morgue side and eventually settles until, at some point, it’s going to be a final accurate number. I would say we’re not quite there yet,” Byrd added, cautioning the death toll will likely rise.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said that 74 victims have been identified.
Officials said that 31 people remain unaccounted for.