Published on January 10, 2005

The nationalities of as many as 3,700 people who perished in the unprecedented tsunami disaster two weeks ago have still not been determined, Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula said yesterday.

Of the approximately 5,300 people confirmed dead but not yet identified, 1,792 were believed to be Thais, he said, adding that the rest were likely foreigners whose nationalities remained unclear. Initial examinations of the nearly 2,000 corpses have proved inconclusive and the cadavers are now undergoing further tests, Bhokin was quoted by AFP as saying.

Earlier, the minister ordered the exhumation of numerous corpses to be re-examined for their DNA. Officials who handle corpses at a burial site in Phang Nga said they had exhumed 700 corpses, but would need a couple of days to uncover more than 400 others. Doubts about the nationalities of numerous victims intensified as several foreign ministers were in Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and other devastated areas, seeking information about their compatriots listed as missing.

Yesterday Bhokin met German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver and Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern. Bhokin said Thailand would do what it can to identify the victims and search for the missing, whose number he said varied between 3,500 and 3,600.

Foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, Japan and Norway have also landed in Thailand since Friday. Their Spanish and Chinese counterparts are expected to arrive as well, while a US Congressional delegation is scheduled to visit some of the worst-hit resort towns today. Three Scandinavian heads of government will be in Thailand on January 16 and 17 to inspect the damaged areas and spearhead the search for their citizens.

Several countries have offered financial and technical assistance to Thailand for the relief effort in the devastated areas. The government has declined all offers of cash, insisting that if they really want to help Thailand, foreign countries – notably members of the European Union – should grant Generalised System of Preference (GSP) privileges for Thai products, Bhokin said.

The abolition by the European Union of GSP tariff privileges for Thai shrimp products is unfair, hurting Thai fishermen the most, he said. “So if they really want to help us, the EU should discontinue its unfair treatment [of the Thai fishery industry] and offer long-term ways to help us,” he told reporters.

The Nation

Phuket, Phang Nga

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