Washington state authorities said today that the number of mudslide fatalities will go up substantially in the next two days.
Ninety people are confirmed missing from the Saturday morning mudslide 55 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Seattle.
Sixteen bodies have been recovered, but officials say at least nine more had been found as of Wednesday night. Snohomish County District 21 Fire Chief Travis Hots said that officials are not going to count additional recovered victims until the medical examiner's office has caught up with the recovery effort.
"In the next 24 to 48 hours, as the medical examiner catches up with their work, you're going to see these numbers increase substantially," Hots said.
Scores of people once thought missing in the mudslide have turned up safe, but that provided little relief to rescuers who are tasked with bringing closure to the relatives and friends of those who have not been found.
