99 confirmed dead in Maui wildfires but governor warns there could be many more

Charred vehicles near a wildfire-destroyed home in Kula, Hawaii, as the confirmed death toll reached 99 (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The number of deaths caused by the Maui wildfires now stands at 99, a figure that is likely to increase as search crews comb neighbourhoods where flames moved as fast as a mile a minute.

The blazes that consumed most of the historic town of Lahaina are already the deadliest in the US in more than a century with the cause under investigation.