Maui police revised down the number of people killed in the Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfires to at least 97 from 115 after forensic analysis helped clarify the number of dead.

Speaking at a news conference Friday at the county building in Wailuku, Maui police Chief John Pelletier, Maui Medical Examiner Dr. Jeremy Stuelpnagel, and John Byrd, laboratory director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency which is running the forensics center, explained that closer inspection of remains and DNA samples collected from relatives helped to clarify the death statistics.

“We still have DNA samples that are being tested. That 97… take it as an at least,” said Byrd, speaking to reporters. “People are working seven days a week at the forensic center on those cases. We’re giving you the best numbers that we have based on a lot of really hard work. There is not perfect certainty, but we hope in the near future we will achieve that perfect certainty.”

The officials said one of the reasons for the lower estimate is that they had multiple DNA samples from some of the victims.

Pelletier said 74 of the deceased have been positively identified.

Thirty-one people are now listed as unaccounted for, down from 66 last Friday, as police are focusing only on the cases where a formal missing person report has been filed.

“It’s good news to have a lower numbers that’s for darn sure,” said Stuelpnagel. “There are a lot of things we are unifying as we work the cases and work the numbers and the samples. Things are coalescing to lower numbers. It’s hard to explain…it’s like a very complex equation to get to where we are.”

There were about 16 cases of non-human remains that came in that had to be verified as non-human, he said, further prolonging the process.

Until today, the death toll estimate had been at 115 since Aug. 21.

Despite the lower death toll estimate, the Lahaina tragedy remains the deadliest in the U.S. wildfire in more than a century.