The Daily Mail has published that the number of people who died in the Maui fires is 480 per the funeral home group there, but the government is keeping the numbers low at 110-114. It is said that the discrepancy is because they are afraid higher numbers will hurt Democrat candidates in Hawaii elections. I believe over 1000 are still unaccounted for.
Perhaps one is counting only those that can be identified, and the other is just counting bodies. At one point early on, when there were supposedly only about 100 bodies, only 9 could be identified conclusively. I suppose one could believe that was not true either.
"Figures don't lie, but liars figure." "Generally, it just means facts and numbers do not misrepresent the truth by themselves. It takes someone, a liar, to manipulate the facts, the figures, to misrepresent the truth." Robert Walker
Unfortunately there always seems to be a race to see which media outlet can get the death toll first. Some ask one source (like the funeral homes) and some ask others. If they would just calm down and wait, it would cause a lot less confusion. And mistrust.
IMO ... this is the cause of most of the fake news we receive .. It all comes down to 'ratings' which of course transfers into money.......... And of course some 'bragging-rights' as well.