BAAN NAM KHEM, Thailand (AFX) - Thai officials today were narrowing their search for bodies to focus on districts worst hit by killer tsunamis, including this fishing town where police say thousands are missing.
Eight days after tidal waves ripped into southwestern tourist resorts and fishing areas, the country's confirmed death toll was 5,046, including 2,459 foreign holidaymakers, with 3,810 people missing.
Reports from devastated areas suggested the death toll would eventually rise sharply. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has predicted 7,000-8,000 dead, half of them foreigners.
Thaksin vowed to continue the search for the missing.
"We will continue to use our best efforts as foreign experts have told me that they (missing) may have been buried in mud in mangrove forests. So we will not stop searching," he told reporters in Phuket island.
Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti, quoted by local newspapers, said the collection of bodies in most areas is expected to end Wednesday.
The focus would then be on a few places where many victims are feared trapped, such as lakes in Baan Nam Khem and mangrove forests in Takua Pa.
Both locations are in the mainland province of Phang Nga, which according to official figures accounted for 4,004 of the known deaths, including 2,209 foreigners. The province includes the newly developed resort district of Khao Lak where there was massive loss of life.
The Nation newspaper said 4,700 dead have so far been found in Phang Nga.
Suvit, quoted by Matichon newspaper, said divers were expected to arrive in Khao Lak later today and the underwater search would be the final phase of the operation there.
Divers would also be used at Kho Khao island and at Baan Nam Khem.
Somsakun Nisarut, head of a non-governmental organisation called Poh Teck Tung, said many bodies still have to be found in the town.
"There are many, many lakes. We are having to dredge each lake one by one," he said. "I do not know how long it will take -- maybe one week, maybe two weeks."
A police officer said yesterday that thousands are missing and feared dead in the town.
"There are 5,000 people in this town. We don't know how many are dead but we think about 3,000 are missing and we think most of those will be dead," Police Captain Chanarong Pungantatmongkol told Agence France-Presse.
"It is hard to know the true number because there were many people here illegally from Burma (Myanmar)."
The town has been battered almost to pieces, with fishing craft tossed into the streets. One was perched atop a ruined home.
Some 20 European nations whose people were vacationing along Thailand's Andaman Sea coast are struggling to locate thousands of missing -- many of whom may be dead or flew home without notifying authorities.
The Swedish government yesterday revised the official death toll among its tourists in Thailand to 52 from an earlier 59. The figure of those missing now stands at 2,915, down from an earlier estimate of 3,500.
Norway counted 21 dead, 462 missing and another 980 who may have been in south Asia at the time of the wave disaster and have not been accounted for.
Germany, Britain and France also have dozens confirmed killed and hundreds unaccounted for.
Several Thai government agencies began building homes for those whose villages were swept away. Thaksin has said the government will swiftly rehabilitate the crucial tourism industry with cheap loans.
ben/ask/sm/sdm/cmr
For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com
Eight days after tidal waves ripped into southwestern tourist resorts and fishing areas, the country's confirmed death toll was 5,046, including 2,459 foreign holidaymakers, with 3,810 people missing.
Reports from devastated areas suggested the death toll would eventually rise sharply. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has predicted 7,000-8,000 dead, half of them foreigners.
Thaksin vowed to continue the search for the missing.
"We will continue to use our best efforts as foreign experts have told me that they (missing) may have been buried in mud in mangrove forests. So we will not stop searching," he told reporters in Phuket island.
Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti, quoted by local newspapers, said the collection of bodies in most areas is expected to end Wednesday.
The focus would then be on a few places where many victims are feared trapped, such as lakes in Baan Nam Khem and mangrove forests in Takua Pa.
Both locations are in the mainland province of Phang Nga, which according to official figures accounted for 4,004 of the known deaths, including 2,209 foreigners. The province includes the newly developed resort district of Khao Lak where there was massive loss of life.
The Nation newspaper said 4,700 dead have so far been found in Phang Nga.
Suvit, quoted by Matichon newspaper, said divers were expected to arrive in Khao Lak later today and the underwater search would be the final phase of the operation there.
Divers would also be used at Kho Khao island and at Baan Nam Khem.
Somsakun Nisarut, head of a non-governmental organisation called Poh Teck Tung, said many bodies still have to be found in the town.
"There are many, many lakes. We are having to dredge each lake one by one," he said. "I do not know how long it will take -- maybe one week, maybe two weeks."
A police officer said yesterday that thousands are missing and feared dead in the town.
"There are 5,000 people in this town. We don't know how many are dead but we think about 3,000 are missing and we think most of those will be dead," Police Captain Chanarong Pungantatmongkol told Agence France-Presse.
"It is hard to know the true number because there were many people here illegally from Burma (Myanmar)."
The town has been battered almost to pieces, with fishing craft tossed into the streets. One was perched atop a ruined home.
Some 20 European nations whose people were vacationing along Thailand's Andaman Sea coast are struggling to locate thousands of missing -- many of whom may be dead or flew home without notifying authorities.
The Swedish government yesterday revised the official death toll among its tourists in Thailand to 52 from an earlier 59. The figure of those missing now stands at 2,915, down from an earlier estimate of 3,500.
Norway counted 21 dead, 462 missing and another 980 who may have been in south Asia at the time of the wave disaster and have not been accounted for.
Germany, Britain and France also have dozens confirmed killed and hundreds unaccounted for.
Several Thai government agencies began building homes for those whose villages were swept away. Thaksin has said the government will swiftly rehabilitate the crucial tourism industry with cheap loans.
ben/ask/sm/sdm/cmr
For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com
© 2005 AFX News
