Some Portuguese descendants who were missing in the fires on the island of Maui have already been located and Portugal continues to monitor the situation in Hawaii, the Government said today.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said it “knows that some Lusodescendants have already been located, but it is not excluded that there are still missing”.
The MFA, reads the note, continues “to monitor the situation in Hawaii, through the Consulate General of Portugal in San Francisco”.
On Saturday, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said that “there is no news of Portuguese nationals” among the fatalities of the forest fires in Hawaii, in the United States.
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had confirmed the existence of Portuguese descendants missing following the forest fires in Hawaii.
“So far, the [US] Government has not yet published the lists of fatalities, but there is knowledge of members of Lusodescendant families who are missing,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a response to Lusa on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, the Portuguese MFA also stated that it had not registered any requests for support from citizens of Portuguese nationality, dual nationality or Lusodescendants in Hawaii.
“There are about 30 national citizens, registered at the Consulate General of San Francisco, residing in Hawaii. The Portuguese community, with dual nationality, is estimated at around 200” people, said the MFA.
The MFA also clarified that the community with Portuguese heritage, “estimated at around 100,000 people”, is made up of descendants of the migratory wave of the late 19th century who do not have Portuguese nationality.
However, he admitted that in the list of missing persons in the Hawaii fires, already released, “there are Portuguese names of Lusodescendant families who are not nationals”.
The death toll from the wildfires that hit the US island of Maui in the Hawaiian archipelago has risen to 93, according to figures released today by local authorities.
Officials predict that more victims will be found as the search continues in the devastated areas.
Two of Maui’s three fires are still active, according to the latest tally by the county, which has so far only been able to verify the identities of two of the 93 confirmed victims.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green said the fires are already the “largest natural disaster Hawaii has ever experienced,” according to CNN, surpassing the 61 confirmed deaths following a tsunami in 1960.
Before Hawaii became a state in 1959, a ‘tsunami’ in 1946 killed 158 people.
The governor also estimated material losses at around $6 billion (about €5.5 billion).
These fires are the deadliest in the US in more than 100 years, surpassing the Camp Fire in the state of California, which caused 85 deaths and reduced the town of Paradise to ashes.
