TEACHER SPEAKS OF HORROR AT LOSING SEVEN CHILDREN IN OKLAHOMA TORNADO
ABOVE: A view of the tornado-destroyed houses and vehicles in Oklahoma City
We told them to get down. There weren’t any lights on and already they were all scared.
Jennifer Doan
A HAUNTED teacher spoke of her horror yesterday at losing seven children in the killer Oklahoma tornado.
Brave Jennifer Doan managed to save the rest of her
class by acting as human shield as the 210mph twister ripped their
school apart.
Her heroics emerged as 16 of the 24 victims of Monday’s whirlwind disaster were named.
Speaking from her hospital bed, devastated Ms Doan said: “We told them to get down. There weren’t any lights on and already they were all scared.
“I had my arms over the ones next to me and I looked up at the door and I put my head down and it just hit.”
One of the boys from the class was buried next to her in the rubble.
“I was just telling him to keep calm and that they would come, and he just kept telling me that he couldn’t breathe and that he didn’t want to die,” she said.
“Somebody finally came and dug some stuff from above my head and they reached their hand down for me.”
Seven pupils at Plaza Towers Elementary school were among the 10 children and 14 adults killed as the tornado pulverised Moore, near Oklahoma City.
Kyle Davis, eight, died instantly after being hit on the head by a falling beam as he sheltered with his classmates.
Best pals Antonia Lee Candelaria and Emily Conatzer, both nine and described as “inseparable”, died hand-in-hand.
Antonia’s mum Brandie said: “We take some comfort in thinking that she and Emily were holding onto each other and not alone.” Sydney Angle, 10, was also killed along with Nicolas McCabe and Christopher Legg, both nine.
Another teacher, LaDonna Cobb, explained how she grabbed whatever she could to protect children that were under her until a wall fell on top of her and knocked her out.
Mrs Cobb and husband Steve were pictured outside the Briarwood Elementary School, with Steve carrying their nine-year-old daughter, Jordan.
Megan Futrell, 29, and her five-month-old baby Case died in a corner shop. The mum-of-two was trying to reach her six-year-old son when the storm forced her to take shelter with the six-month-old tot.
Pastor DA Bennett of St Andrew’s Church said: “She was a mother who loved her baby and wanted to do what she could to protect that child.”
Karrina Varygas, four, and her baby sister Sydnee Varygas, who was seven months, were killed when their house was ripped apart.
Mum Laurinda fought in vain to protect them as the winds turned their home to rubble. Dad Philip said last night: “We just don’t know what to do anymore.”
Hermant Bhonde, 65, died after becoming separated from his wife Jerrie. She told how they clung to each other inside the shower.
“The house disappeared,” she said.
Meanwhile the dad of nine-year-old Ja’Nae Hornsby, the first victim to be named, told how he rushed to her school but was too late to save her.
Joshua Hornsby said: “My heart just sank.”
Other victims named were Terri Long, 49, Shannon Quick, 40, Jenny Neely, 38, and Cindy Plumley and Deanna Ward.
However, one youngster who had been missing, Aubrey Cook, 10, was found alive by her family in hospital.
Rescuers began to wind down their search last night. Oklahoma County commissioner Brian Maughan said: “The list of people that we have had, they are all accounted for in one way or another.”
Her heroics emerged as 16 of the 24 victims of Monday’s whirlwind disaster were named.
Speaking from her hospital bed, devastated Ms Doan said: “We told them to get down. There weren’t any lights on and already they were all scared.
“I had my arms over the ones next to me and I looked up at the door and I put my head down and it just hit.”
One of the boys from the class was buried next to her in the rubble.
“I was just telling him to keep calm and that they would come, and he just kept telling me that he couldn’t breathe and that he didn’t want to die,” she said.
“Somebody finally came and dug some stuff from above my head and they reached their hand down for me.”
Seven pupils at Plaza Towers Elementary school were among the 10 children and 14 adults killed as the tornado pulverised Moore, near Oklahoma City.
Kyle Davis, eight, died instantly after being hit on the head by a falling beam as he sheltered with his classmates.
Best pals Antonia Lee Candelaria and Emily Conatzer, both nine and described as “inseparable”, died hand-in-hand.
Antonia’s mum Brandie said: “We take some comfort in thinking that she and Emily were holding onto each other and not alone.” Sydney Angle, 10, was also killed along with Nicolas McCabe and Christopher Legg, both nine.
Another teacher, LaDonna Cobb, explained how she grabbed whatever she could to protect children that were under her until a wall fell on top of her and knocked her out.
Mrs Cobb and husband Steve were pictured outside the Briarwood Elementary School, with Steve carrying their nine-year-old daughter, Jordan.
Megan Futrell, 29, and her five-month-old baby Case died in a corner shop. The mum-of-two was trying to reach her six-year-old son when the storm forced her to take shelter with the six-month-old tot.
Pastor DA Bennett of St Andrew’s Church said: “She was a mother who loved her baby and wanted to do what she could to protect that child.”
Karrina Varygas, four, and her baby sister Sydnee Varygas, who was seven months, were killed when their house was ripped apart.
Mum Laurinda fought in vain to protect them as the winds turned their home to rubble. Dad Philip said last night: “We just don’t know what to do anymore.”
Hermant Bhonde, 65, died after becoming separated from his wife Jerrie. She told how they clung to each other inside the shower.
“The house disappeared,” she said.
Meanwhile the dad of nine-year-old Ja’Nae Hornsby, the first victim to be named, told how he rushed to her school but was too late to save her.
Joshua Hornsby said: “My heart just sank.”
Other victims named were Terri Long, 49, Shannon Quick, 40, Jenny Neely, 38, and Cindy Plumley and Deanna Ward.
However, one youngster who had been missing, Aubrey Cook, 10, was found alive by her family in hospital.
Rescuers began to wind down their search last night. Oklahoma County commissioner Brian Maughan said: “The list of people that we have had, they are all accounted for in one way or another.”
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