JOPLIN, Mo (Reuters) – The list of people still missing five days after a monster tornado tore through Joplin was narrowed to 156 on Friday after authorities were able to confirm some people on the list had survived.
The death toll from the tornado remains at 126 even though the remains of six more people were identified over the last day, Andrea Spillars, Deputy Director of the Missouri Department of Public safety, told a news conference.
Authorities on Thursday released a list of 232 names of people still unaccounted for. Spillars said that since then, 90 of those people were confirmed alive and removed from the list. Two names were removed as duplicates, and six were confirmed dead and removed.
But another 22 missing person reports were received, bringing the number of missing to 156.
Authorities also said that the remains of only 19 of the dead have been identified and released to families.
There has been rising frustration in Joplin that families were unable to view the bodies in morgues or get answers on the fate of their loved ones.
The tornado on Sunday was rated an EF-5 or the strongest possible and is already the deadliest twister in the United States since 1947.
The storm scored a direct hit on the city of 50,000 people in southwest Missouri and left a swath of destruction nearly a mile wide, damaging some 8,000 buildings.
More than 900 people were injured, although officials said that figure could be higher because some people did not got to hospitals.