"9,500 unaccounted for in Miyagi's Minamisanriku: local gov't"

"About 9,500 people are unaccounted for in the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture following Friday's powerful earthquake, prefectural officials said Saturday.

The figure is more than half of the population of about 17,000 in the town on the Pacific coast, they said."

==Kyodo