The Puerto Rican government informedBuzzFeed News on Friday that 911 people who died after Hurricane Maria struck the island were considered to have died of "natural causes" without undergoing a proper physical examination. Instead of being seen by a government medical examiner to determine if these individuals should be added to the death toll, every single one of the 911 people were given the "natural causes" designation by simply reviewing their records.
The revelation was made after BuzzFeed News reported that the Puerto Rican government allowed funeral homes and crematoriums in two separate municipalities to burn the bodies of people believed to have died from the hurricane. Currently, the death toll stands at 51, with 20 of which coming from cremations. It goes without saying that the actual number could be a whole lot higher, if the proper measures were taken.
"These reports are extremely troubling — they provide even more reason to be concerned about the accuracy of the information we’re receiving," Sen. Elizabeth Warren told BuzzFeed News. "The Trump Administration needs to cooperate with Puerto Rican authorities and provide all the necessary resources to ensure the death toll is accurately counted.”
During his visit to Puerto Rico earlier this month, Donald Trump compared the island's deaths to that of Katrina.
"Every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died and you look at what happened here with, really, a storm that was just totally overpowering," he said.
This latest seems to suggest that Puerto Rico could have very well suffered a "real catastrophe" after all.
