by Thanaporn Promyamyai
KHAO LAK, Thailand, Dec 31 (AFP) - Thailand Friday spent New Year's Eve in sombre mood as the confirmed death toll in the tidal wave disaster rose to 4,560, including 2,230 foreign holidaymakers.
More than 6,500 are still missing, five days after walls of water smashed into Andaman Sea resorts, and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said 80 percent of these are presumed dead.
"Lots of people died. We cannot celebrate," said a front office assistant at the Phuket Merlin Hotel.
Across the country, traditionally exuberant celebrations were being cancelled or toned down.
Northern European nations were also grieving the loss of hundreds if not thousands of their nationals.
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."
Some 3,500 Swedes are missing in southern Thailand but officials said some may have travelled home without notifying them.
Germany had 26 confirmed dead in Thailand and more than 1,000 missing in that country or in Sri Lanka.
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.
Russia said 80 citizens were unaccounted for in Thailand.
Just one province -- Phang Nga, where the newly developed and now devastated resort of Khao Lak is located -- accounted for 3,689 of the deaths. Its bungalow resorts near the water were especially vulnerable to the ocean's fury.
Frenchman Nicolas Debray, 28, was on holiday in Khao Lak with eight members of his family when the waves struck his bungalow.
"The New Year, I don't know when that is, I don't want to talk about it," Debray, a Hong Kong resident, said at Bangkok's Bumrungrad hospital.
He lost his five-month old son, who was drowned, and his 80-year-old grandmother, who died in his mother's arms.
"My son, I had to let go of him after three minutes," Debray said, weeping. "The bungalow collapsed over us and we were dragged a kilometre and a half (about a mile) as if by a washing machine."
Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti said he expects the final death toll at Khao Lak will top 4,500. He could not say when all corpses would be recovered.
"We will try our best to finish this task as soon as possible," he told AFP.
Many locals in the province -- where the stench of death hung in the air and volunteers handed face masks to motorists -- were preoccupied only with trying to find loved ones.
Kamala Hinthoy, 47, was looking for her brother at Bang Muang temple in Takua Pa district, where saffron-robed monks are running a makeshift morgue. At least 100 photos of the dead were displayed to avoid having to open body bags.
"We know this one guy that it might be but we are not sure as the body is too decomposed and it's hard to identify," she told AFP.
"I think I will stop looking for him since if I found him later I could not bring his body for a religious ceremony, anyway, as it's too decomposed."
About 320 local victims were buried Friday in a mass grave in Takua Pa after DNA samples were taken for possible identification later. Some 400 others have been buried in
the same grave over the past three days.
"Many years ago I told all of you that in our way of life will not only be happiness but also unavoidable suffering," said King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in a New Year address to the nation.
The world's longest-reigning monarch, who lost his grandson in the tragedy, praised the thousands of Thais who helped foreigners and each other.
"The year-end catastrophe has once again proved that Thai people including the military, police and civilians always show generosity and consideration," he said.
AFP December 31, 2004 9:18:00 PM
Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti said he expects the final death toll at Khao Lak will top 4,500. He could not say when all corpses would be recovered.
"We will try our best to finish this task as soon as possible," he told AFP.
Many locals in the province -- where the stench of death hung in the air and volunteers handed face masks to motorists -- were preoccupied only with trying to find loved ones.
Kamala Hinthoy, 47, was looking for her brother at Bang Muang temple in Takua Pa district, where saffron-robed monks are running a makeshift morgue. At least 100 photos of the dead were displayed to avoid having to open body bags.
"We know this one guy that it might be but we are not sure as the body is too decomposed and it's hard to identify," she told AFP.
"I think I will stop looking for him since if I found him later I could not bring his body for a religious ceremony, anyway, as it's too decomposed."
About 320 local victims were buried Friday in a mass grave in Takua Pa after DNA samples were taken for possible identification later. Some 400 others have been buried in
the same grave over the past three days.
"Many years ago I told all of you that in our way of life will not only be happiness but also unavoidable suffering," said King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in a New Year address to the nation.
The world's longest-reigning monarch, who lost his grandson in the tragedy, praised the thousands of Thais who helped foreigners and each other.
"The year-end catastrophe has once again proved that Thai people including the military, police and civilians always show generosity and consideration," he said.
AFP December 31, 2004 9:18:00 PM
KHAO LAK, Thailand, Dec 31 (AFP) - Thailand Friday spent New Year's Eve in sombre mood as the confirmed death toll in the tidal wave disaster rose to 4,560, including 2,230 foreign holidaymakers.
More than 6,500 are still missing, five days after walls of water smashed into Andaman Sea resorts, and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said 80 percent of these are presumed dead.
"Lots of people died. We cannot celebrate," said a front office assistant at the Phuket Merlin Hotel.
Across the country, traditionally exuberant celebrations were being cancelled or toned down.
Northern European nations were also grieving the loss of hundreds if not thousands of their nationals.
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."
Some 3,500 Swedes are missing in southern Thailand but officials said some may have travelled home without notifying them.
Germany had 26 confirmed dead in Thailand and more than 1,000 missing in that country or in Sri Lanka.
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.
Russia said 80 citizens were unaccounted for in Thailand.
Just one province -- Phang Nga, where the newly developed and now devastated resort of Khao Lak is located -- accounted for 3,689 of the deaths. Its bungalow resorts near the water were especially vulnerable to the ocean's fury.
Frenchman Nicolas Debray, 28, was on holiday in Khao Lak with eight members of his family when the waves struck his bungalow.
"The New Year, I don't know when that is, I don't want to talk about it," Debray, a Hong Kong resident, said at Bangkok's Bumrungrad hospital.
He lost his five-month old son, who was drowned, and his 80-year-old grandmother, who died in his mother's arms.
"My son, I had to let go of him after three minutes," Debray said, weeping. "The bungalow collapsed over us and we were dragged a kilometre and a half (about a mile) as if by a washing machine."
Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti said he expects the final death toll at Khao Lak will top 4,500. He could not say when all corpses would be recovered.
"We will try our best to finish this task as soon as possible," he told AFP.
Many locals in the province -- where the stench of death hung in the air and volunteers handed face masks to motorists -- were preoccupied only with trying to find loved ones.
Kamala Hinthoy, 47, was looking for her brother at Bang Muang temple in Takua Pa district, where saffron-robed monks are running a makeshift morgue. At least 100 photos of the dead were displayed to avoid having to open body bags.
"We know this one guy that it might be but we are not sure as the body is too decomposed and it's hard to identify," she told AFP.
"I think I will stop looking for him since if I found him later I could not bring his body for a religious ceremony, anyway, as it's too decomposed."
About 320 local victims were buried Friday in a mass grave in Takua Pa after DNA samples were taken for possible identification later. Some 400 others have been buried in
the same grave over the past three days.
"Many years ago I told all of you that in our way of life will not only be happiness but also unavoidable suffering," said King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in a New Year address to the nation.
The world's longest-reigning monarch, who lost his grandson in the tragedy, praised the thousands of Thais who helped foreigners and each other.
"The year-end catastrophe has once again proved that Thai people including the military, police and civilians always show generosity and consideration," he said.
AFP December 31, 2004 9:18:00 PM
Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti said he expects the final death toll at Khao Lak will top 4,500. He could not say when all corpses would be recovered.
"We will try our best to finish this task as soon as possible," he told AFP.
Many locals in the province -- where the stench of death hung in the air and volunteers handed face masks to motorists -- were preoccupied only with trying to find loved ones.
Kamala Hinthoy, 47, was looking for her brother at Bang Muang temple in Takua Pa district, where saffron-robed monks are running a makeshift morgue. At least 100 photos of the dead were displayed to avoid having to open body bags.
"We know this one guy that it might be but we are not sure as the body is too decomposed and it's hard to identify," she told AFP.
"I think I will stop looking for him since if I found him later I could not bring his body for a religious ceremony, anyway, as it's too decomposed."
About 320 local victims were buried Friday in a mass grave in Takua Pa after DNA samples were taken for possible identification later. Some 400 others have been buried in
the same grave over the past three days.
"Many years ago I told all of you that in our way of life will not only be happiness but also unavoidable suffering," said King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in a New Year address to the nation.
The world's longest-reigning monarch, who lost his grandson in the tragedy, praised the thousands of Thais who helped foreigners and each other.
"The year-end catastrophe has once again proved that Thai people including the military, police and civilians always show generosity and consideration," he said.
AFP December 31, 2004 9:18:00 PM