Kentucky officials expressed relief on Monday that many workers at a tornado-shattered candle factory had survived the twisters that left dozens dead and a trail of destruction across six US states, IgbereTV reports.
Governor Andy Beshear said 65 deaths have been confirmed in the southeastern state and choked up as he told reporters the fatalities ranged in age from five months old to 86.
“Like the folks in western Kentucky, I’m not doing so well today and I’m not sure how many of us are,” Beshear said.
The governor said 105 people in Kentucky remain unaccounted for, and “it may be weeks before we have final counts on both deaths and levels of destruction.”
“Undoubtedly there will be more (dead),” he said. “We believe that it will certainly be above 70, maybe even 80.”
But the governor said fears of a devastating death toll in the collapse of the candle factory in the ravaged town of Mayfield were apparently unfounded.
Some 110 employees were working late Friday at the Mayfield Consumer Products plant to meet the holiday rush when the tornado ripped the building to shreds.
The factory owners reported eight dead and eight missing from the collapse, and said “94 are alive and have been accounted for,” Beshear said.
“We feared much, much worse,” he said, calling it a “light of hope.”
