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Rescue turns to recovery as Oklahoma search nears end

Rescue workers believe their search of the debris left by the tornado that tore through Oklahoma is almost over.

Moore's fire chief, Gary Bird, said he was "98% sure" nobody else would be found in the wreckage of Moore, Oklahoma.

Teachers who braved the storm with their young pupils have been speaking of the terrifying experience of being trapped as the tornado struck.

ITV News reporter Lewis Vaughan Jones reports.

Officials increasingly confident no one left in rubble

Rescue workers with sniffer dogs continue to search the wreckage left by a tornado to ensure no survivors remained buried in the rubble of primary schools, houses and buildings in Oklahoma.

Local officials are increasingly confident that everyone caught in the disaster has been accounted for.

Residents walk through debris of homes after the suburb of Moore, Oklahoma.
Residents walk through debris of homes after the suburb of Moore, Oklahoma. Credit: REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Spokesman for Oklahoma Emergency Management, Jerry Lojka, said search-and-rescue dog teams would search for anybody trapped under the rubble, but that attention would also focus on the huge clean-up job.

"They will continue the searches of areas to be sure nothing is overlooked," Mr Lojka said. "There's going to be more of a transition to recovery".

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Dog rescued from wreckage was 'guarding body'

A dog rescued from the wreckage of a house in Oklahoma was actually standing guard over a person who had died, the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office said.

The sheriff's office originally posted this picture on its Facebook page when the dog was found with the words, "Scared, but this little pup survived".

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office wrote, 'Man's best friend to the end'.
The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office wrote, 'Man's best friend to the end'. Credit: Facebook/Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office

They later found a body where the dog had been waiting, which the office said may have been its owner.

The deputy who found the dog hopes to adopt it.

The sheriff's office wrote in another update that the animal was "man's best friend to the end".

65-year-old man named as Oklahoma tornado victim

An aerial view of damage to neighbourhoods in Moore, Oklahoma.
An aerial view of damage to neighbourhoods in Moore, Oklahoma. Credit: REUTERS/Rick Wilking

A 65-year-old man has been identified by his family as one of the Oklahoma tornado victims.

Hemant Bhonde's family told NBC News that he became separated from his wife when the tornado hit their home in Moore, Oklahoma.

Mr Bhonde's wife, who has not been named, survived.

Clegg: Britain has 'duty of care' to Afghan interpreters

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it would have been "morally unacceptable" to deny the Afghan interpreters the option of coming to Britain:

We owe it to them to make sure that where they are under real threat of retribution or intimidation, we look after them.

I think we have a duty of care to these people, just as we did to a number of interpreters who helped us in Iraq. I wasn't content with the idea which was floated that, somehow, this time round... as part of the menu of options for some of the interpreters who helped us, we wouldn't include as part of that menu of options the right to come to this country.

– Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister

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Nine-year-old girl among first tornado victims named

A nine-year-old girl who was described as "always smiling" is among the first Oklahoma tornado victims to be named.

Ja'Nae Hornsby's father confirmed she died at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, which was destroyed by the tornado.

Nine-year-old Ja'Nae Hornsby.
Nine-year-old Ja'Nae Hornsby. Credit: MySpace/Angela Hornsby

Joshua Hornsby, told NBC News affiliate KFOR-TV he had searched all night for Ja'Nae before receiving a call from the coroner's office telling him she had not made it.

"I was just hopeful. I was hopeful that she might have been unconscious, I was still hoping she was alive", Mr Hornsby, who also lost his house in the tornado, said.

Destroyed vehicles lie in the rubble outside the Plaza Towers Elementary school in Moore, Oklahoma.
Destroyed vehicles lie in the rubble outside the Plaza Towers Elementary school in Moore, Oklahoma. Credit: REUTERS/Richard Rowe

Her aunt, Angela Hornsby, described Ja'Nae as "always happy, always smiling", while Pastor James Dorn Jr. called her "a beautiful child to be around, someone you feel privileged to know".

For more on this, visit NBC News.

Afghan settlement 'right for those who risked lives'

A settlement scheme is the right policy for people who have risked their lives to help our troops in Afghanistan. It was not right for the Government to leave interpreters and their families to face threats from the Taliban when we leave.

We will scrutinise the scheme carefully, as the details don't appear to be worked through. But we welcome this U-turn, albeit after ministers had said the opposite over many weeks and months.

– Yvette Cooper, Shadow home secretary

Teachers credited with saving Oklahoma pupils' lives

Details are emerging of how teachers in Oklahoma saved the lives of children as the devastating tornado tore through their schools.

After the tornado alarm went off at Plaza Towers Elementary School, pupils ran into the hallways as instructed, but the halls did not appear safe enough.

Rescue personnel combs through the pile of rubble that was once Plaza Towers Elementary School.
Rescue personnel combs through the pile of rubble that was once Plaza Towers Elementary School. Credit: Shane Keyser/The Kansas City Star/MCT/ABACAPRESS. COM

Antonio Clark, a sixth-grader at the school, told the Associated Press that a teacher took him and as many other pupils as possible and pushed them into the three-stall boys' bathroom.

The 12 year old said another teacher wrapped her arms around two students and held his hand before he heard a roar that sounded like a herd of elephants.

A search and rescue dog and its trainer work a pile of debris that was once Plaza Towers Elementary School.
A search and rescue dog and its trainer work a pile of debris that was once Plaza Towers Elementary School. Credit: Shane Keyser/Kansas City Star/MCT/ABACAPRESS. COM

At Briarwood Elementary, one father told of how a teacher shielded his eight-year-old son with her arms and held him down as the tornado collapsed the school roof and starting lifting students upward with a pull so strong it "literally sucked glasses off kids' faces".

"She saved their lives by putting them in a closet and holding their heads down", David Wheeler said.

Gabriel and the teacher - whom Mr Wheeler identified as Julie Simon - had to dig their way out of the rubble.

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