Hotel heiress Paris Hilton is being slammed on social media after she was spotted vacationing on the beaches of Maui, Hawaii, just 30 miles away from the devastated town of Lahaina. Pictures that have surfaced online show Mrs. Hilton enjoying a beach day at a resort in Wailea with her husband, Carter Reum, and their son, Phoenix, Page Six reported.
Meanwhile, nearly 100 people have died, thousands have been displaced and buildings and businesses have burnt down, making it one of the worst natural disasters to hit the US.
Criticising her, one person wrote, ''While Maui burns, Paris Hilton Fiddles ( on vacay in Maui)! Get a clue honey and go home.''
''Tone, meet my friend deaf,'' said another.
A third wrote, ''Paris Hilton is vacationing in Maui at a resort 30 min from Lahaina. Imagine watching thousands of ppl lose their homes, loved ones, families, etc, and then expecting them to SERVE YOU DRINKS WHILE U FROLIC ON THE BEACH IN FRONT OF THEM OMG.''
“It was initially a planned family trip, and she has been traveling to Maui since she was born. She has many friends and family there and it's a second home for her," a source close to Mrs Hilton told People.
The pictures come days after Hawaiian native Jason Momoa urged people not to vacation in Maui amid the ongoing devastation.
''Maui is not the place to have your vacation right now. DO NOT TRAVEL TO MAUI. Do not convince yourself that your presence is needed on an island that is suffering this deeply,'' he wrote on Instagram.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority also posted a similar statement urging visitors not to come to Hawaii at this time and for those vacationing on the island to leave Maui. Many hotels are currently housing evacuees, with as many as 4,500 people in need of shelter.
One local woman told the BBC, "The same waters that our people just died in three days ago are the same waters the very next day these visitors — tourists — were swimming in. That says a lot about where their heart and mind is and where our heart and mind is. You don't see our people swimming, snorkeling, surfing. Nobody is having fun in tragedy."
The wildfire is the deadliest in the United States since 1918, when 453 people died in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association. Hawaiian authorities have begun a probe into the handling of the fire, with residents saying there had been no warning.
