Tornado toll 139, 105 missing

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Tornado toll 139, 105 missing

From: NewsCore May 29, 2011 5:59AM

THE number of people unaccounted for after Joplin's twister is 105 as work

continues to identify the dead.

Earlier Saturday, Joplin city officials said the death toll had risen to 139.

Unlike city officials, however, the Missouri Department of Public Safety said

they will not release a total fatality list until all human remains have been

identified through dental records, x-rays and other scientific methods.

Spillars, deputy director of the public safety department, said that 48

individuals have now been confirmed dead by those means and their families have

been notified.

" Currently we have 142 human remains but that includes partial remains, "

Spillars said. " Some of those remains may be the same person. So until we can go

through the scientific process to make sure that we have identified each and

every one of those individuals, we will not confirm a total fatality list. "

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The number of missing, meanwhile, has fallen to 105 from 156 yesterday. That

latest number, however, includes nine individuals who were confirmed dead by

their families. Although those individuals are assumed to be at the temporary

morgue, Spillars said they will not be considered officially deceased until

their remains have been scientifically identified.

She added that the total of unaccounted for individuals also includes seven new

missing person reports.

Spillars also addressed questions as to why family members are not allowed into

the morgue to personally identify victims, saying that visual identification is

sometimes not as accurate as scientific identification. She said family members

have, however, been asked to provide identifying marks and other information to

help identify the dead.

" I can tell you it's a very respectful process, " she said. " I can tell you that

someone is with that loved one every step of the way. "

She said the highway patrol is working around the clock to personally notify

victims' families when remains are identified and has assigned more than 50

troopers to the task.

The twister, which struck the city on May 22, was the single deadliest tornado

recorded since the National Weather Service began tracking such information in

1950.

President Barack Obama will visit Joplin today to survey the damage and attend a

memorial service for those killed in the storm.