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Horrific video from Hawaii's Maui captures residents jumping into ocean to escape: Watch
Watch video of survivors being forced to jump into the sea to escape wildfires in Maui as hurricane-fueled winds intensified the flames.
Hawaiian island of Maui continues to burn, days after wildfire turned a beautiful beach town into a charred ruin. 55 people have been reported dead whereas thousands are still missing.
"What we've seen today has been catastrophic," Governor Josh Green said after touring Lahaina, a town of some 12,000 people which served as the capital of the Hawaiian kingdom in the early 19th century.
Even though the cause of the wildfires, which started on Tuesday night, hahas not yet been determined, several eyewitness reports suggest, heavy winds triggered by Hurricane Dura intensified the fire which engulfed the entire town very fast. Now videos emerging from catastrophic night capture the agony of the residents who were forced to jump into the sea to survive the raging fires.
Survivors at the rescue camp claim the cops asked them to jump into the sea as that was the only way to survive the fire. Many remained in the water with fear of being killed by a hurricane for 3-4 hours before they were rescued.
‘I just prayed to God and asked him not today God’, a Survivor told the media.
Brushfires fueled by high winds from a nearby hurricane broke out on Tuesday and rapidly engulfed Lahaina, a favorite tourist destination for the millions of people who visit Maui each year.
The flames moved so quickly that many were caught off-guard, trapped in the streets or jumping into the ocean in a desperate bid to escape.
"There's nothing left, it's gone, it's a ghost town," said Sarai Cruz, 28, who fled Lahaina with her parents, sister and three children.
Brandon Wilson, a Canadian who had traveled to Hawaii with his wife to celebrate their 25th anniversary, said "it really looks like somebody came along and just bombed the whole town.
"It's completely devastated," said Wilson, who was at the airport with his wife trying to get a flight out. "It was really hard to see. You feel so bad for people. They lost their homes, their lives, their livelihoods."
