2 Killed When Tornado Tosses Car
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Updated: 9:51 AM May 25, 2008
2 Killed When Tornado Tosses Car
KAKE News has confirmed that two people were killed Friday near the Kingman-Pratt County line.
Posted: 4:02 PM May 24, 2008
Email Address: news@kake.com
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KAKE News has confirmed that two people were killed Friday near the Kingman-Pratt County line. This is in the area between the communities of Cairo and Cunningham.

At 10:50 p.m. Friday at tornado was spotted on the ground two miles east of Cairo. The Pratt County Sheriff's Department says the wreckage was not found until approximately 9:10 a.m. Saturday morning.

It appears the victims: Gary S. Whitlow, 33 and Kimberly S. Whitlow, 29 both of Rocky Ford, Colorado were driving their 2006 Saturn Ion on HW 54 when the tornado struck. The car was found 150 yards off the highway in a field.

Early in the investigation it was feared there might be children that had been in the vehicle also and a search was initiated for more victims. An aerial search was started with an airplane from Pratt Air and finished by a search from a Kansas Highway Patrol aircraft, as well as dozens of volunteers and emergency responders on foot.

Approximately one and a half hours into the search it was confirmed there were only two people involved in this incident and the search was called off. The path of the tornado was flown also just to make sure there were no victims in the rest of the path of this storm.

According to Pratt County Sheriff Chinn, the same storm damaged or destroyed approximately 5-6 rural residences and one irrigation system.


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