Tourist rush to airport to leave Maui after deadly fire that kills 53

Thousands of tourists are leaving the Hawaiian island of Maui after a massive fire that destroyed the city of Lahaina.

The death toll from Maui’s wildfires rose to 53 on Thursday as the fast-moving conflagration that turned the resort town of Lahaina into smoldering ruins was 80% contained, officials said.

The island that forms part of the U.S. state of Hawaii was caught off guard by at least three major fires that broke out Tuesday night, cutting off the western side of the island and the historic city of Lahaina, where more than 270 structures were destroyed or damaged.

Many more people suffered burns, smoke inhalation and other injuries. Search and rescue efforts continue, and thousands of people have fled into emergency shelters or left the island.

The wildfires took most of Lahaina’s residents and visitors by surprise, forcing some to jump into the ocean to escape the fast-moving inferno. Thousands of tourists were trying to leave Maui, many of them camped in the airport waiting for flights.

Vixay Phonxaylinkham, a tourist from Fresno, California, said he was trapped on Lahaina’s Front Street in a rental car with his wife and children as the fires approached, forcing the family to abandon the car and jump into the Pacific Ocean.

“We floated around four hours,” Phonxaylinkham said from the airport while awaiting a flight off the island, describing how they held onto pieces of wood for floatation.

“It was a vacation that turned into a nightmare. I heard explosions everywhere, I heard screaming, and some people didn’t make it. I feel so sad,” he said.

The death toll rose by 17 on Thursday to reach 53, Maui County said in a statement that also reported the Lahaina fire was 80% contained, as firefighters secured the perimeter of the wildland areas that burned.

The Pulehu fire, about 20 miles (30 km) east of Lahaina, was 70% contained. There was no estimate for the Upcountry fire in the center of the eastern mass of the island, Maui County said.

The Lahaina fire reduced entire neighborhoods to ashes on the western side of the island. Lahaina is one of Maui’s prime attractions, drawing 2 million tourists each year, or about 80% of the island’s visitors.

Tourists and locals alike fled with few or none of their belongings as the fire spread rapidly due to dry conditions, a buildup of fuels and strong winds.

“It was so hot all around me, I felt like my shirt was about to catch on fire,” said Nicoangelo Knickerbocker, a 21-year-old resident of Lahaina, said from one of the four emergency shelters opened on the island.