Sisters hurt in London blast return to the U.S. for surgery

Jul 13 2005

According to one of the surgeons involved in their treatment, Emily and Katie Benton, two Tennessee sisters who were injured in Thursday's terrorist attacks in London, underwent reconstructive surgery on Monday at Duke University's North Carolina Hospital.

The surgery was to close blast wounds to their feet.

Surgeon Dr. Gregory Georgiade says the pair are "totally stable at this point" and appear to be dealing well with their ordeal.

Georgiade said the surgery involved transferring tissue from other parts of their bodies to close the wounds on their feet.

The State Department has confirmed that a U.S. citizen is still missing and presumed dead in the London terrorist attacks.

The American, Michael Matsushita, a 37-year-old native of the Bronx in New York City, is presumed dead and was believed to have been caught in the explosion on a train near King's Cross station.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said on Monday that the individual has not contacted his friends and family members in London, and they are trying to verify the situation.

To date four Americans are known to have been wounded in the blasts, the two Benton sisters and two others who were treated and released who have not been identified.

The U.S. government, while it was aware of the four wounded, apparently did not find out until later about the person presumed dead.

According to Casey, the government has received more than 1,000 calls from people enquiring about the "welfare and whereabouts" of people in London, one of which led to information about the American feared dead.

He said as yet 212 of the inquiries have not been resolved.

The Benton sisters, both college students from Knoxville, Tennessee, were on vacation in London, and were just 10 feet from the bomb that exploded in a subway car near Edgware Road.

It is believed that the benches in the train and the people surrounding them, some of whom were killed, protected them from more life-threatening injuries.

Georgiade said, Emily Benton, 20, suffered bone and soft-tissue damage to her right foot and one hand; one eardrum was blown out and her corneas were superficially damaged by debris, while Katie Benton, 21, suffered an injury to the tissue in her right foot and ankle and one hand; she also had eardrum and corneal damage.

The hospital worked with the family and British and American authorities to bring the sisters back to the United States after they had received initial medical treatment at London's Charing Cross Hospital.

They were interviewed by Scotland Yard, prior to their departure and had to obtain new passports to replace ones lost in the blast.