Many Killed by Tornado in Kansas
Pakistan Times Wire Service

WASHINGTON: At least nine people were killed by the massive tornado that wrecked a small town in Kansas collapsing a hospital and reducing most homes to piles of broken timber, local officials said Sunday.

At least six people were killed in Greensburg, Kansas, after the storm made a direct hit on the small western prairie town late Friday, said City Administrator Steve Hewitt.

Some 30 people were pulled from the rubble of Kiowa County Memorial Hospital in Greensburg as the storm ripped homes off their foundations and even damaged below-ground shelters, according to reports.

Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for Kansas Emergency Management, told a US channel a seventh person was killed in an adjacent county. A local newspaper, The Witchita Eagle, later reported two more deaths in Kiowa County where Greensburg is located. Scores were reported injured and dozens hospitalized.

President George W. Bush was briefed on the situation, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency chief, David Paulison, spoke with Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, an administration official said.●