Aug 11

Hawaiian wildfire leaves at least 53 dead

The wildfire that left a historic Hawaiian town in charred ruins has killed at least 53 people, making it one of the deadliest disasters in the US state’s history. Pictures taken by an AFP photographer who flew over Lahaina showed it had been reduced to blackened, smoking ruins. The burned skeletons of trees still stand, rising above the ashes of the buildings to which they once offered shelter. Around 100 people are believed to have jumped into the water in a desperate effort to flee the fast-moving flames and residents say dead bodies continue to wash up on the shore.