Jeff Bezos Slammed for Celebrating Blue Origin Space Trip After Amazon Warehouse Deaths in Powerful Tornado

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been under fire after releasing a celebratory post on social media for the Blue Origin space mission, while employees were killed at an Amazon warehouse after being hit by a deadly tornado.

On Saturday, Bezos posted on Instagram a photo of the Blue Origin crew, including former NFL star and "Good Morning America" host Michael Strahan, along with other paying customers, Independent reported.

Jeff Bezos captioned the post with a "happy crew this morning in the training center." He tweeted about the Illinois Amazon warehouse death many hours later and after the rocket launch was over.

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Slammed for Celebrating Space Mission After Amazon Warehouse Collapse in Illinois

The Amazon founder wrote that the news from Illinois is "tragic" and that they are "heartbroken over the loss of teammates there." He offered thoughts and prayers to the families and loved ones of the victims.

Some of the followers of Bezos on Twitter quickly react to his statement, with one saying "Wow! You're just making a statement?"

Another Twitter user sarcastically asked Bezos what template did he use in Office365, Newsweek reported. Another user wrote that Bezos should be "selling 1 billion (or more) worth of stock" to help people affected by the tragedy in the Illinois Amazon warehouse.

Amazon Warehouse in Illinois

At least 18 tornadoes had hit the South and Midwest on Friday night, killing more than 70 people. The death toll includes six Amazon warehouse workers in Edwardsville.

According to Daily Mail, the warehouse roof and one of its large walls collapsed in the powerful storms. As of Saturday, another 50 people were trapped under the debris. It was unclear how many people were still stuck in the rubble.

Storm Prediction Center meteorologist Roger Edward earlier said that the thunderstorms produced a couple of deadly tornadoes along the way.

At least 100 emergency vehicles responded to the Amazon warehouse. One of the rescued was flown by helicopter to a hospital.

The center of the destruction was the southwestern Kentucky city of Mayfield. The city's courthouse was shredded, while houses and buildings were ripped apart.

Mayfield Consumer Products' 40 employees of 110 had been rescued, with more than 90 people had already been located, according to the company spokesman Bob Ferguson. However, eight of the workers are still missing, according to an Associated Press News report.

Ferguson noted that many of the employees were gathered in the tornado shelter and left the plant and went to their homes once the storm was over.

Mayfield Consumer Products night shift workers were in the middle of the holiday rush when a tornado closed in on the factory.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear earlier said that the state's overall death toll could exceed 100. However, he clarified later in the day that the number might turn out to be half of that.

The governor added that layers of steel and cars 15 feet deep were on top of what used to be the factory roof.

During the rescue operation, rescuers had to crawl over the dead to retrieve the living stuck under the debris.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Several Killed When Tornado Damages Amazon Warehouse in Illinois - From CBS Evening News

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