The mayor of Maui, Richard Bissen, said that 850 people are still missing. The same day the governor said 1,100 are missing... Bissen was asked by reporters ten days after the disaster how many children were missing. He responded: “I don’t know.” When pushed by increasingly angry reporters he said he’d tell them if he knew... It is now common knowledge that the schools were closed that day and children were either home alone or with grandparents since their parents were all at work.
If kids are kids like we were back in the 50’s and 60’s, if there was a fire in the neighborhood it attracted kids like a magnet. Without the folks stopping them, I fear many ran towards the flames and not away.
How could they not know how many tourists were on the island? Check plane records of entry for a start. Hotel records are burned up but how can they not know if a hotel was full capacity or not in August? AAAs in some US city booked some of those tourists. Put the pieces together when families file insurance claims and death notices.
Bissen's a democrat - I'm amazed 'the press' was angry - they usually give a pass to anyone with a D by their names. Maybe hundreds of dead children allowed them to be real for once.