The Shrinking List of the Missing-MSNBC Update by Brock Meeks

Posted: Friday, November 25 at 11:15 am CT

And then there were 20. That's the official number of missing persons whose whereabouts are still unknown in this region of the Gulf Coast, according to Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove.

That number is a tiny portion of the more than 6,600 people still reported missing as a result of Hurricane Katrina, according to the National Center for Missing Adults, which is working with federal government to help account for the victims.

Hargrove's office is part of an ad hoc group put together shortly after Katrina hit with the goal of locating the missing in this southern Mississippi area. The group includes the Bureaus of Investigation from Mississippi, Kansas and Georgia; the U.S. Marshals, the Mississippi Alcohol Beverage Control Board, the FBI, the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Salvation Army.