Posted on 12/31/2004 6:16:01 AM PST by killjoy
KHAO LAK, Thailand, Dec 31 (AFP) - More than 4,500 people -- almost half of them foreign holidaymakers -- were Friday confirmed dead in Thailand's tidal wave disaster and officials in the worst hit resort region said they expect to find hundreds more bodies later in the day.
The governor of Phang Nga province, which includes the devastated resort area of Khao Lak, said 2,027 foreigners and 1,662 Thais were confirmed dead there.
Interior ministry figures showed a total of 821 confirmed dead -- including 203 foreigners -- in the five other provinces on the Andaman Sea coast which were battered by huge waves last Sunday.
The combined data shows a total of 4,510 people including 2,230 foreigners confirmed killed in the whole country.
The ministry said 6,475 are missing nationwide and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said 80 per cent of these should be presumed dead.
Phang Nga governor Anuwat Maytheevibulwut told AFP rescuers were Friday expected to retrieve 300 more corpses in his province alone.
"We will try to complete the task today on land but I have no idea how many would be floating in the sea," Anuwat said.
At least 100 more bodies are expected to be removed Friday from the once-idyllic Phi Phi island, said deputy interior minister Sutham Sangprathum.
He said a candlelight New Year vigil would be held on the island -- one of many planned in a sombre nation which normally marks the occasion with frenzied merrymaking.
European nations were also grieving.
New Year's Day will be an official day of mourning in Sweden. Prime Minister Goeran Persson said Thursday that 44 Swedes are confirmed dead in Thailand but that number "is going to end up in the hundreds, in the worst-case scenario exceed 1,000."
Norway said Thursday that at least 21 Norwegians died and 430 were missing across the Indian Ocean region. "We are faced with an incomprehensible tragedy that is growing by the hour," said Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said the same day that 19 French nationals died in Thailand and there was little hope for 90 who disappeared.
Britain warned nationals not to visit Thailand.
"Flooding, stagnant water, disruption of sewer lines, and poor quality sanitation conditions are conducive for the development of disease," the foreign office said.
In Ottawa, Thailand's ambassador Stanchart Devahastin pleaded for body bags, freezers, coffins and forensic experts to help store and identify decomposing corpses.
Thaksin, who has deployed 20,000 rescue workers, said the figure of those still missing is "very worrying."
He said the search of wrecked buildings had slowed, because of a shortage of heavy equipment and because some rescuers briefly fled Thursday due to a false alarm about more tsunamis.
Disposal of the masses of dead was posing a dilemma, with Western countries keen to preserve the remains for identification and Thai health officials favouring quick disposal in 33 degree Celsius (92 Fahrenheit) heat.
Refrigerated containers were in acutely short supply.
Thai officials and dozens of foreign forensic experts have now agreed that the bodies of foreigners will be collected at three sites in refrigerated containers pending an identification process which could take months, a French police source told AFP.
The bodies will be collected in Khao Lak, Phuket and Krabi province.
Photos and sometimes even fingerprints are useless in many cases because the corpses are so decomposed.
"As in all disasters, we are rushing afterwards. We have made progress but the disaster has also made progress," said one expert.
ping
Thanks Killjoy. This is not good news at all.
May God be with those who mourn.
Here in Norway, entire families have been wiped out. In a few instances, a father couldnt manage to hang on to one of the kids and let go and now they are dead. A horrible thing for a parent to live with.
I just returned from a very subdued New Years dinner in Chiang Mai. Even though this is far north of the affected area, most people wore black or dark colors and they ate in quiet family groups. The small children had fun aqs they always do here. People were looking at their families, feeling fortunate but very sad for their countrymen and the foreign visiters.
This opens up a huge number of privacy concerns and it is too early in the morning to go off on that. :)
They are starting to put them in the bodies in Thailand. See the following:
Why do I find myself unable to grieve a whit for Europeans? The natives get my support and sympathy, but I can't help but feel that any help rendered to Europeans will be returned in the form of a knives in our backs.
My best friend is down in Phang Nga helping out with the relief efforts. I wish I could be there also to help out but unfortunately I am stuck in the US until February.
Umm... because you are unable to see past your own prejudices?
Ah yes, that's it. No, wait, it's because I've been listening to the Europeans tell me for three years plus that 9/11 was our fault.
"Why do I find myself unable to grieve a whit for Europeans?"
A good question. Why don't you think about it and get back to us?
This goes way beyond nationality.
This is just people with huge losses. I can't imagine the grief of a parent unable to hold onto their child and watching helplessly as the little one is swept away.
I was going to reply back and point out the failures of your logic but your post already speaks volumes.
May God bless him. It is a terrible but very necessary job for speakers of several languages to help. He must be a very fine person. Wish you could be here as you seem to definitly have the right idea.
My best guess at this point is that the many years of abuse from Europe, and their reflexive adherence to our enemies in war, has drained me of the share of compassion that would normally be their due.
Mrs. Flash instructed my sister-in law to take money from our Thai account to donate. For some reason which I haven't quite figured out from Mrs. F, they have decided to donate it for coffins for the victims. A case of T.I.T. ["This is Thailand", for those of you unfamiliar with the estimable, and apparently still living, Bernard Trink]
I'll send some more directly from the US to aid the living, probably not to Thailand, because they are likely to get more than any place else, in proportion to what they need.
Actually, her, a native of BKK. She went down with a group of people from the Nation newspaper and is helping out at the main temple (staging area) in Phang Nga. Jokingly, she said she has made enough merit to make sure I have a safe trip back to Thailand. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.