Over 900 Americans in Puerto Rico Have Died of ‘Natural Causes’ Since Hurricane Maria

Official Death Toll Remains at 51

The Puerto Rican government has allowed 911 bodies to be cremated following the landfall of Hurricane Maria, with no physical examinations to determine if they should be included in the official hurricane death toll of 51 Americans.

Late Friday, BuzzFeed reported that they had spoken with  Karixia Ortiz Serrano, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety, who confirmed the count. Serrano also spoke on behalf of the Institute of Forensic Sciences, which confirms the number of hurricane deaths.

The spokesperson advised that each of the 911 died of “natural causes” not related to the storm, designations made without examining the bodies and by reviewing records alone.

As they further explained:

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló has said that the island’s Institute of Forensic Sciences must examine and certify any hurricane-related deaths before they can be included in the death toll.

But the institute does not routinely — as in, in non-disaster situations — examine cases that were “natural deaths,” and that process has not changed to account for potential hurricane victims, Ortiz told BuzzFeed News this week, adding, “the process has not changed because of the emergency.”

BuzzFeed also cited disaster death toll experts, who advised the outlet that “natural deaths” should definitely be counted, and that they were in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.”

In early October, Donald Trump met with Rosselló in Puerto Rico, advising the governor that the then-16 deaths were something to be proud of.

“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 overbearing, nobody has seen anything like this,” Trump said.

Early Saturday, Donald Trump touted the “very little reporting about the GREAT GDP numbers announced yesterday… despite the big hurricane hits.”

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