More Than 900 Post-Hurricane Deaths In Puerto Rico Won’t Be Physically Examined We might never know how many of those people died due to the hurricane, or how high the death toll really is.

By Carolina Moreno and Hilary Hanson 10/29/17

More than 900 bodies have been authorized for cremation in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria ravaged the island on Sept. 20, the U.S. territory’s Department of Public Safety confirmed to HuffPost Saturday. Medical examiners overseeing the process do not appear to have conducted physical examinations of the bodies.

BuzzFeed News was the first to report on the staggering number of unexamined deaths, noting that because the bodies were burned, no one will ever know how many of those deaths were related to the hurricane.

In a statement sent to HuffPost by Puerto Rico’s Department of Public Safety, Secretary Héctor Pesquera said the Institute of Forensic Sciences ― an agency of Puerto Rico’s government in charge of certifying deaths related to the hurricane ― has authorized 911 cremations after reviewing medical records. more