Maui search is 25% complete as death toll from wildfires grows to 99

FILE PHOTO: Smoke billows from flames near Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, U.S. August 9, 2023. Dustin Johnson/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

KAHULUI, Hawaii (Reuters) - Search teams with cadaver dogs have combed through 25% of the Lahaina disaster zone from the Maui wildfires, discovering the remains of a 99th victim on Monday, but perhaps hundreds more people were unaccounted for nearly a week after the disaster.

Fueled by winds gusting up to 80 mph (128 kph), an inferno burning at temperatures that the governor said reached 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 degrees C) raced from the dry grasslands outside town into the historic resort town of Lahaina last Tuesday, turning block after block into ash.