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232 Missing After Tornado in Joplin, Missouri


A search and rescue team looks for victims at a devastated apartment complex in Joplin, Missouri, May 26, 2011.
A search and rescue team looks for victims at a devastated apartment complex in Joplin, Missouri, May 26, 2011.

Officials in the central state of Missouri say 232 people are still unaccounted for, days after a tornado cut through a city, leaving a path of death and destruction.

Authorities in the city of Joplin say some of the missing are likely among the dead. The death toll so far from Sunday's violent weather is 125.

The tornado tore apart homes, crushed cars and snapped trees. It was the deadliest single tornado in the United States in more than six decades.

U.S. President Barack Obama is to travel to Joplin on Sunday. He has pledged the federal government will use all available resources to help the victims recover and rebuild.

Elsewhere, emergency officials have reported at least 14 deaths in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas, which were hit by tornadoes Tuesday and Wednesday.

Last month, more than 300 people were killed in twisters in the southern United States.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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