The Los Santos Fire Department has confirmed that at least 700 people were killed in the earthquake, after days of rescue efforts inside the evacuation zone.
The figure is the first official count from anyone working on the ground, and it is far higher than the fourteen deaths the State of San Andreas says it recognises.
From rescue to recovery
Firefighters have been searching collapsed buildings, crushed cars and blocked streets since the first shock hit, often while fires were still burning and gas was still leaking. In the first hours, crews pulled survivors out of the rubble. As the days went on, those rescues grew rarer.
The department now says the operation has moved from rescue to recovery. The work is no longer about finding people alive, but about bringing the dead out so they can be identified and returned to their families.
Images from inside the city show long rows of white sheets laid out where the dead are being gathered, and firefighters sitting on the kerb beside them, exhausted, some with their heads in their hands.
“At least” 700
The LSFD stresses that 700 is a minimum. Parts of the city are still being searched, and some buildings are too unstable to enter. Firefighters who spoke to Weazel News expect the number to rise.
Weazel News first reported on Saturday that the death toll was feared to be at least 600, based on photos from inside the city. The fire department’s count now goes beyond that.
Fourteen, says the State
The State’s own figure still stands at fourteen “confirmed seismic fatalities”. In its statement this weekend, the Governor’s office said it does not recognise figures from “unlicensed media” or “private individuals with telephones”, and that other deaths were being reclassified as “pre-existing, lifestyle-related, or firearm-related”.
The State cannot dismiss the fire department as unlicensed media. Weazel News has asked the Governor’s office whether it now accepts the LSFD’s count. It has not replied.
Cole Walker yet to comment
Fire Chief Cole Walker, who kept pulling people from the rubble after being shot during the worst of the unrest, has yet to comment on the confirmed death toll.
Colleagues describe a department that is exhausted and grieving, and that has been working almost without a break since the ground first moved.
What happens next
The dead are being identified before families are contacted. Anyone still searching for a missing relative is urged to speak to the Sheriff’s Department in Paleto Bay.
The news comes days before residents may be allowed back into Los Santos. The Preservation Teams still estimate a return on Thursday, with buses due to leave Paleto Bay at 10am, but many of those going home will be returning to streets where neighbours did not survive.
