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Hawaii wildfires: Harrowing video of residents fleeing in car leaving woman on road splits Internet

Hawaii wildfires have claimed the lives 53 people as authorities try to control the massive blaze

Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised

MAUI, HAWAII: It is said that hard times show the best and the worst of mankind. In one such case in Hawaii, where according to Governor Josh Green, the state is probably experiencing the greatest disaster in history, a viral video raises the question of whether humanity is dead.

In the 30-second video, a group is seen evacuating in a car. Although the windows of the car were closed, one could see the occupants suffocating.

As they passed through the blazing fires, they discovered a woman lying on the road. The group could be heard saying that there was nothing they could do to save her, so they decided to move on.

The user who shared the video captioned it, “Humanity is dead. They just drove right past her and left her for dead…”

What is the current situation in Hawaii?

Per NBC, 80 per cent of the Lahaina fire is now contained. However, there are six fires still raging on Maui and the Big Island.

In the fire, 53 deaths have been confirmed as of yet. Josh Green said that it is the largest natural disaster in the state's history. At least 20 people have sustained non-fatal injuries.

'Go fly out there and pick her up. Keyboard warrior'

When the video showing the car occupants driving past the woman went viral, users of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) were divided. While many users castigated the occupants' behavior as selfish, some others supported them for making the tough decision not to stop.

One social media user tried to argue that if they had stopped to check on the woman and taken her with them, she likely would have suffocated even more.

The user wrote, "They left her but hypothetically they open that door, that car is filled with more smoke than it currently is, they hotbox their car, lose more oxygen and suffocate as that is the main cause of death is lack of oxygen in that scenario. While its sad, that was their best choice."

Someone claimed they have gone through similar situations and said, "Been thru this in person, firefighters in the family. Exiting that car would mean almost certain life threatening burns. The worst of which scorched lungs from breathing super heated air and smoke. If she was down, sadly, she was already too far gone."

The third reiterated, "It looked like a very dangerous situation. Getting out of the car could have killed them too. We don’t know."

Another person supported the passengers by saying, "No chance. It's not survivable out in that heat and the car was heating up dangerously. Stop and the tires might melt and blow. That's a seconds between death and life situation unless they know EXACTLY where the edge of the fire is and have identified a safe route." 

Nevertheless, there were several users who claimed had they been in that area, they would've stopped the car to help the woman. 

Someone quipped, "Could’ve at least pushed her to see if she was alive. Not a high chance but i would’ve tried."

"I would have stopped, any time and every time, no matter what. I could not live with the alternative. Horrific that they just went "oh well" and drove by," another user showed their disapproval. 

Another criticized them while saying, ""There's nothing we can do for her" really!?! Terrible people man."

One user remarked, "Instead lets just film everythyng on our phones so we can post later and get some attention..." Another user supported the previous comment by saying, "Exactly my thoughts! This is just depraved behavior. Please Heavenly Father help us."

However, several others slammed the people who were criticizing the car's occupants and termed them "armchair warriors" and "keyboard warriors."

One such user said, "Lot's of 'behind the screen ' rescuers in the comments. Why have none of you factored in the heat and the smoke just on the other side of the car door. It could have been a life threatening environment outside of the car. None of us were there." "Go fly out there and pick her up. Keyboard warrior," said another.