The death toll from the Hawaiian wildfires has climbed to 93 as new video emerges of residents being tossed around the ocean after diving in to flee flames. 

Blazes on the island of Maui have now become the deadliest wildfires in modern US history, as authorities continue to work to identify the victims. 

As the fires swept the island, new footage has also emerged of people who had jumped into the Pacific Ocean in an effort to escape the flames.  

Those from the town of Lahaina are seen being thrown around the choppy waters as thick smoke and embers surround them. 

Resident of the historic town Joan Hayashi told Fox 11 that those in the water had to wait for eight hours to be rescued.

Hayashi said: ‘It sounded like a giant blow torch, we had to run in the ocean. We’re in the ocean probably like eight hours. Flames were hitting, things were falling from the palm tree.’

Federal emergency workers are now tasked with picking through the ashen moonscape left by the fire that razed the centuries-old town of Lahaina. 

Teams have been marking homes with a bright orange X to record an initial search, and contacting HR when they discover human remains.  

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said that crews with cadaver dogs had covered just 3 percent of the search area, with the death toll expected to rise again. 

Pelletier said identifying the dead is extremely challenging because ‘we pick up the remains and they fall apart’

Pelletier said: ‘When we find our family and our friends, the remains that we’re finding is through a fire that melted metal.’ 

So far, the remains of two people have been identified and Pelletier is urging those with missing family members to go to the family assistance center. 

He said: ‘We need you to do the DNA test. We need to identify your loved ones.’ 

On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a report by fire researchers in 2014 warned the area was at an extremely high risk of burning. 

Another report in 2020 is also said to have tied fires to winds from a passing hurricane, similar to the ones that turned the town of Lahaina to ash. 

The 2014 report warned that Lahaina was among Maui’s most fire-prone areas due to its parched grasslands, winds and steep terrain. 

A plan was laid out to shield the area around Lahaina from fires, which included thinning vegetation, improving response capabilities and working with landowners. 

On Saturday, Governor Josh Green toured the devastation on the historic Front Street of Lahaina. 

He said: ‘It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced.

‘We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them healthcare, and then turn to rebuilding.’ 

At least 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed in West Maui, Mr Green said, of which 86% were residential. 

Across the island, he added, damage is estimated at close to 6 billion US dollars, Green said it will take ‘an incredible amount of time’ to recover. 

At least two other fires have been burning on Maui, with no fatalities reported thus far: in south Maui’s Kihei area and in the mountainous, inland communities known as Upcountry.

A fourth broke out on Friday evening in Kaanapali, a coastal community north of Lahaina, but crews were able to extinguish it, authorities said.

Peg Alm spent Wednesday night sleeping in her truck after being forced from her home in Kuhei as another fire broke out.

‘I didn’t know about Lahaina until the next day because we made to evacuate’ she tells DailyMail.com.

After seeing those heartbreaking pictures of the devastation on the local news, Alm signed up to help with the relief effort after answering a call put out on social media.

‘I was tired of waking up and crying the whole morning,’ she says before wiping away more tears as she recounts her memories of the historic beachside town.

‘This is like the soul of the island has been ripped up,’ says the Michigan native, who has lived on Maui for 15 years.

For the past three days, a long-shuttered and derelict wharfside restaurant in the nearby Ma’alaea harbor has been a meeting place for a community still reeling from the deadly wildfires.

Buzz’s Wharf, which closed its doors for good in 2014, is now a hub where local volunteers gather to send much-needed supplies to the displaced and desperate residents of the fire-ravaged town.

From the early hours of Saturday morning, they have been sorting through the donation and forming human chains to load up trucks bound for Lahaina.

As they do so, some of the Native Hawaiians break out into prayer, asking for the deliveries to be blessed, to the sound of the Pacific crashing on the nearby shore.

The cargo is made up entirely of donations from fellow islanders, stepping in whereaid agencies or the government have been too slow to do.

They include food, water, diapers, clothes and other medical supplies.

Peg, who runs paddleboard trips for tourists, was amongst the dozens of locals who have been showing up at Ma’alaea and other aid centers across the island since Thursday. 

Michael Lynn, a 41-year-old who moved to Maui from Oregon ten years ago to start a coconut harvesting business, had been on a camping trip in a remote eastern part of the island when the fire engulfed Lahaina.

‘We had no idea what was happening and then we switched on our phones and there were dozens of messages from our friends asking if we were ok,’ he explains.

‘The biggest challenge right now is getting the supplies to where they need to go,’

Lynn adds, admitting there has been some ‘frustration’ over the response from local authorities to the fire.

‘When we hit a certain spot, we try to figure out what they need and relay that information back to our volunteers here,’ he says. ‘We are delivering supplies but also hope.’

The newly released death toll passed that of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, which left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise.

A century earlier, the 1918 Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota and raced through a number of rural communities, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds.

The wildfires are the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, passing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people.

An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency alert system with sirens that are tested monthly.

Britain’s economy defies the experts as it GROWS 0.2% in second quarter of the year with GDP rising 0.5% in June – raising hopes that UK can AVOID recession

By Mark Duell and David Wilcock, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline

Published: 02:20 EDT, 11 August 2023 | Updated: 02:43 EDT, 11 August 2023

NHS radiographers could join medics in striking over pay next month, their union has confirmed. 

Radiography is a broad staff group which encompasses NHS staff who operate essential diagnostic equipment like X-Rays and CT scans, as well as some professionals who use radiation as part of cancer treatments.

Staff from all these areas could now walk off the job after union, the Society of Radiographers, (SOR) confirmed a successful strike ballot over pay today. 

About 43 trusts across England are expected to be hit by the industrial action, which is likely to be held next month.

This opens the door to a potential joint strike with the British Medical Association (BMA), which is holding its own record-breaking five-day walkout by junior doctors from July 13-18.

Union sources hinted to MailOnline that such an alliance could be on the cards, stating the health services radiographers ‘stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow NHS professionals.’

With radiography professionals helping 9 out of 10 NHS patients with scans needed to help find problems and help treat them, according to the union, any strike action is likely to be a massive disruption to the health service. 

Elective care is also likely to take a massive below with a million patients believed to be waiting for an NHS radiography service. 

The new action is just latest industrial action blow to the beleaguered NHS which has lost thousands of appointments and procedures to staff strikes since the end of last year. 

SOR officials said the Government still had time to stop the strikes, by offering them better pay, after members rejected the offer of a 5 per cent pay rise. 

Dean Rogers, SOR’s director of industrial strategy said voting to strike had not been an easy decision for any NHS worker but added that the Government had left them no choice. 

‘This is especially true for radiography professionals, who work long hours for pay that has been falling behind average wages for years, in order to provide their patients with the best possible care,

‘The radiography professionals on the frontline know that low wages undermine efforts to create a stable NHS workforce with sufficient staffing levels to ensure that all patients receive the best treatment possible.’

Mr Rogers said radiography professionals were a critical part of the NHS, and patients were being let down by staff shortages. 

‘Doctors and nurses cannot do their jobs without our members – the radiographers, sonographers, mammographers, therapy radiographers and radiology support workforce,’ he said. 

‘Waiting lists are growing and, for a cancer patient awaiting diagnosis and radiotherapy treatment, even a two-week wait can mean the difference between life and death.’

He added that radiographers are currently working overtime to help patients but are facing lower real-terms pay. 

‘While they work longer hours, they have faced real-terms cuts to their pay since 2008,’ he said.

‘Total average weekly earnings have increased by 55 per cent since 2008, but the wage increase for our members has been less than half that.’

Mr Rogers added that as a result, many radiographers are now voting with their feet. 

‘Many radiography professionals are feeling burnt out by low pay and increased hours,’ he said.  

‘They’re leaving the NHS, and they are not being replaced in adequate numbers.’

‘Vacancies are running at a minimum of 10 per cent – indeed, since 2020, the number of mammographers has increased by just one.’

They also hit out at ministers’ NHS long-awaited workforce plan, which was revealed today by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. 

The union labelled it a plan for the future that does nothing to tackle the shortage of radiography professionals today.

While 150 trusts balloted by SOR returned a result in support of a strike, only 43 hit a legal threshold in terms of turnout to make it valid for action.

It comes as the BMA plans to host a five-day July walkout by junior medics followed by a two-day strike by consultants on July 20 and 21.

New of further strikes comes just days after the crippling NHS nurse industrial dispute fizzled out after the Royal College of Nursing failed in its attempt to launch another six months of carnage.

RCN bosses needed a fresh strike mandate to plot further action because their old one expired. But not enough members voted to meet the legal threshold.

Other aspects of the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan revealed today by ministers included a plan to slash medical degrees from five years to four in a drive to put tens of thousands of extra doctors on hospital wards.

Ministers plan to take advantage of Brexit to change rules on doctor training, which were previously imposed by the EU.

The move forms part of a package of measures aimed at slashing waiting lists by boosting the NHS workforce, with 60,000 more doctors and an extra 170,000 nurses by 2036/37.

Bosses also expect to have an additional 71,000 allied health professionals such as physiotherapists, midwives and pharmacists.

The blueprint warns that staffing shortages within the health service could more than triple over the next 15 years – from 112,000 to 360,000 – as a result of a growing and ageing population, coupled with new treatments. 

The NHS says it will seek to embrace more homegrown talent and reduce its reliance on overseas employees as competition for healthcare workers is rising around the world.

A record recruitment drive will also allow it to become less dependent on expensive agency staff, cutting the bill for taxpayers by around £10billion between 2030 and 2037.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, described it as a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity to put staffing on a sustainable footing and improve patient care’.

BUSINESS LIVE: GDP growth of 0.1% in Q1 confirmed; Barratt sells £168m portfolio to Lloyds subsidiary; Centrica expands gas storage capacity

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Updated: 04:17 EDT, 30 June 2023

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BUSINESS LIVE: GDP grows by 0.2% in April; Shell reveals 15% dividend hike; Robert Walters issues profit warning

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Fears of a nuclear meltdown are growing in Ukraine as Vladimir Putin evacuates towns near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, amid warnings that his troops have placed explosives and artillery at the site.

Moscow has evacuated 1,680 citizens, including 660 children, from areas around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ahead of Kyiv‘s much-anticipated counteroffensive to drive the Russian president’s troops back.

More than a dozen towns and villages have been evacuated near the front line in southern Ukraine, including the town of Enerhodar, which is home to the plant’s workers and their families. It was seized in the early days of Putin’s invasion.

Experts have warned that by placing weapons at the site, Russia is risking the plant being struck by Ukrainian artillery – and thus risking a nuclear meltdown.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, said: ‘We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment.

‘This major nuclear facility must be protected,’ he said.

The warning from the UN came as Moscow launched a fresh wave of drone, missile and air strikes across Ukraine, hitting Kyiv and other key cities on Monday.

Moscow appears to be stepping up attacks while preparing for its cherished Victory Day holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

As many as 16 missile strikes had targeted the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions, in addition to 61 airstrikes and 52 rocket salvos on Ukrainian positions and populated areas, the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in its morning update on the fighting.

Ukrainian air defences destroyed all 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones Russia had launched, the military said.

Kyiv’s mayor said at least five people were wounded in the capital amid damage to a fuel depot, cars, buildings and infrastructure.

‘Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded civilians, high-rise buildings, private homes and other civilian infrastructure were damaged,’ the military said.

A food warehouse was set ablaze in the Black Sea city of Odesa.

As air-raid sirens sounded across the country on Monday, Dr Patricia Lewis – a nuclear physicist who leads the international security program at Chatham House – also issued a warning about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia power plant.

She said that there are concerns that Russia could attack Ukrainian positions from around the plant, prompting Kyiv’s forces to fire back.

‘The IAEA – the director general – reported just a few days ago that they’ve been seeing weapons and artillery and explosives being moved into the power plant,’ she said, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

‘This is the real worry that we have – that they will fire from the power plant and then what will the Ukrainians do? Because they do not want to fire at the power plant.’

The IAEA said earlier that such clashes around the plant threaten catastrophe.

Dr Lewis explained that if power to the plant is cut for example if power line to the plant is struck by a shell, this risks a nuclear meltdown.

The plant has back-up power sources, including diesel generators, which have kicked into gear on previous occasions when the site lost power.

However, these can only last so long. In the event that they run out of fuel and the plant is left without any source of power, a disaster could occur.

‘There is a lot of equipment [the mitigate this risk of disaster]. Some of it can be done automatically but of course making decision in the heat of battle is the critical thing,’ Dr Lewis said. 

‘You only have a limited supply of diesel. You’d have to make sure that you were able to bring in more diesel which you might not be able to,’ she told the programme.

‘So the big worry then is that the power supply would fail. And according to [Petro Kotin] who is the head of the Ukrainian atomic energy establishment – he said it would take a few hours to a day for things to get really serious and possibly have some melting in the reactor. Before we have a Fukishima.’

‘This is really irresponsible of Russia to do this,’ she added.

For months, both sides fought tirelessly around Europe’s largest power station, which remained staffed by Ukrainian employees under Russian control until September.

The plant at Zaporizhzhia is one of the ten biggest in the world and was responsible for nearly half the nuclear output of Ukraine’s four reactors. 

Ukrainian forces had little luck trying to recover the plant after the initial invasion, with rockets from both sides coming dangerously close to hitting the station.

Ukraine has warned since that damage to the structure risks a ‘Chernobyl-style’ catastrophe.

In September, the IAEA were able to inspect the integrity of the plant. 

Both Russia and Ukraine accused each other of trying to sabotage the IAEA mission.

Mr Grossi, who has continued to visit the site for Russian-organised inspections, has said the ‘plant and physical integrity of the plant’ had been ‘violated several times’.

In April, it was reported that dissenting plant workers – who refused to keep the plant active for Russian forces – had been the victims of torture during the occupation.

Ukrainian President Zelensky last week called for Putin to be tried in the Hague for ‘criminal acts’. 

The news comes as Ukraine gears up for a spring counter-offensive, breaking the winter deadlock with a push into occupied regions in the south and east. 

Writing earlier this morning, Mr Fedorov said that ‘Under the guise of a contrived ‘evacuation’, the occupiers are preparing real provocations. 

‘The humanitarian catastrophe caused by the sick fantasy of the Rashists [‘Russian fascists’] is no less real.’

He added later that ‘the occupiers promise the residents of the front-line territories golden mountains – comfortable accommodation at the captured recreation centres of Kyrylivka and Berdyansk.’

MailOnline was unable to verify the evacuation of Ukrainian refugees to the seaside beach-facing settlements – though eyewitnesses have echoed the reports.

LB.ua reported Saturday that locals were hiding their children as Russian occupants tried to evacuate them, in some cases without their parents, to recreation centres in Kyrylivka and Berdyansk.

The independent Ukrainian outlet said law enforcement agencies had confirmed the claims.

Mr Fedorov added: ‘In fact, only [some] of the evacuees are brought to the coast – they are settled among the collaborators and the military. Others are taken to continental Russia.’

He said that Ukrainians evacuated from Kherson last year had found themselves later unable to return to Ukraine.

Russian state media confirmed the evacuation of the 18 occupied regions on Friday.

Ukraine is expected to launch a counteroffensive this spring to break to winter stalemate.

In April, Pentagon leaks revealed American officials doubted the ability of Ukraine to wage an effective assault.

But in recent days, Russian confidence has looked more exposed as Wagner Group threatened to withdraw from the contested city of Bakhmut in the east.

Russia has said it is ready to replace Wagner Group forces with Akhmat special forces from Chechnya in recent days – though experts warn the effectiveness is likely overstated.

The fresh attacks come as Moscow prepares for Tuesday’s Victory Day parade, a key event for President Vladimir Putin who has evoked the spirit of the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany, having accused Ukraine of being in the grip of a new kind of fascism.

Ukraine and its allies say the accusation was a baseless pretext for Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February, 2022, which resulted in the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two, killing thousands and forcing millions to flee the country.

‘We must always be prepared for enemy treachery and defence,’ Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia stepped up shelling of Bakhmut, hoping to take it by Tuesday, Ukraine’s top general leading the besieged city’s defence said, after Russia’s Wagner mercenary group appeared to ditch plans to withdraw from it.

Three people were injured in blasts in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district and two when drone wreckage fell in the Sviatoshyn district, both west of the capital’s centre, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Kyiv’s military administration said drone wreckage fell on a runway at Zhuliany airport, one of the capital’s two passenger airports, drawing emergency services there, although there was no fire.

Drone debris seemed to have hit a two-storey building in the central district of Shevchenkivskyi, causing damage, it added.

Reuters witnesses said they heard numerous explosions in Kyiv, with local officials saying air defence systems were repelling the attacks.

Flames had completely engulfed a large structure identified as a food warehouse in pictures posted on Telegram by Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, after what he said was a Russian attack.

After air raid alerts blared for hours over roughly two-thirds of Ukraine, media said explosions sounded in the southern region of Kherson and southeastern Zaporizhzhia.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in Zaporizhzhia, said Russian forces hit a warehouse and Ukrainian troops’ position in the small city of Orikhiv. Reuters was unable to independently verify the report.

Separately, Russian forces shelled eight spots in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Sunday, the regional military administration said in a Facebook post.

Strikes have also intensified in the past two weeks on Russian-held targets, especially in Crimea.

Ukraine has not confirmed any role in those attacks but it says destroying enemy infrastructure is preparation for its long-awaited ground assault.