Hope amid the rubble: Kentucky tornado death toll could fall, company says

A ray of hope emerged on Sunday from the aftermath of a barrage of tornadoes that obliterated a Kentucky town and killed people in five states, as representatives of a candle factory destroyed in the disaster said far fewer people may have died than previously feared.

Officials had said the death toll could soar past 100 from twisters that tore through at least six states in the US Midwest and South on Friday night, while seeing little chance of finding survivors in the rubble two days later.

In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear estimated the death toll at 80 and said it was certain to rise above 100, but that was based on suspicion that scores were killed when a candle factory was destroyed in the small city of Mayfield.

Up to 70 people at the factory had been believed dead, but that number could be revised down to 16 or fewer, a company spokesman said, raising the possibility the governor's death toll estimate could come down significantly.