Tourists flee Hawaii as wildfire razes Hawaiian town

At least six people have been killed in a wildfire that has razed a Hawaiian town, officials said Wednesday, with desperate residents jumping into the ocean in a bid to escape the fast-moving flames.

US Coast Guard officers plucked at least a dozen people from the water as emergency services were overwhelmed by a disaster that appeared to have erupted almost without warning.

Nehemiah Khakuhaulua, Lahaina resident said "The apartment complexes is just right above the aquatic center. So we thought we were okay. But then the wind came, the gas stations blew up, everything caught fire by the brush. And then we just had to evacuate. " "People are jumping into the water to avoid the fire," US Army Major General Kenneth Hara, the state adjutant general, told Hawaii News Now. The Coast Guard said it had "successfully rescued 12 individuals from the waters off Lahaina".