232 listed as missing after US tornado

May 27th, 2011 - 11:54 am ICT by IANS  

Barack Obama Washington, May 27 (IANS/EFE) Authorities in Missouri published Thursday a list of 232 people still unaccounted for after the devastating tornado that claimed 125 lives in the city of Joplin.

The state government knows some of the people on the list are dead and is confident that others listed as missing are alive and well, Andrea Spillars, deputy director and general counsel for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, told the media.

The confirmed toll from Sunday’s disaster in Joplin, a city of some 50,000 residents roughly 257 km south of Kansas City, has climbed to 125. Around 900 people were injured.

Spillars urged anyone on the missing list who survived the tornado to contact their families or authorities.

The storm flattened numerous homes and other buildings in Joplin and left St. John’s Regional Medical Center in ruins.

More than 8,000 structures were damaged by the tornado, which had winds of more than 320 kph, according to the US National Weather Service.

Storms and tornadoes associated with the same weather system left 13 dead this week in Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

President Barack Obama, currently attending a summit in Europe, will travel to Joplin Sunday to oversee recovery efforts and meet victims’ families.

–IANS/EFE
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