Friday, January 07, 2005
440 Britons feared dead in Asia
Click to enlarge photo
PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) - Some 440 Britons may have died in the Asian tsunami disaster -- more than double the previous estimate -- Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says.
The government updated the confirmed British death toll on its website to 50 -- three in the Maldives, 10 in Sri Lanka and 37 in Thailand.
But Straw said 391 Britons were missing and were highly likely to have been victims of the giant waves which devastated Indian Ocean nations on December 26.
The government had previously put its casualty toll at 41 confirmed dead and 159 missing.
"What we've sought to do is give the figures about confirmed deaths ... and in addition to those, give the best estimates of the experts (on missing Britons)," Straw told a news conference during a visit to the devastated Thai island resort of Phuket.
The total death toll from the tsunami stands at over 150,000, according to government and health officials.
Straw suggested the British toll could change again.
"The fact that (the figures) have more than doubled in the space of four days indicates the imprecision of estimates of this kind," he told BBC radio.
"The scale and magnitude of this disaster makes it literally unique ... In this case, bodies are still being washed up, unearthed, so the total number of potential casualties is still not known."
Click to enlarge photo
PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) - Some 440 Britons may have died in the Asian tsunami disaster -- more than double the previous estimate -- Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says.
The government updated the confirmed British death toll on its website to 50 -- three in the Maldives, 10 in Sri Lanka and 37 in Thailand.
But Straw said 391 Britons were missing and were highly likely to have been victims of the giant waves which devastated Indian Ocean nations on December 26.
The government had previously put its casualty toll at 41 confirmed dead and 159 missing.
"What we've sought to do is give the figures about confirmed deaths ... and in addition to those, give the best estimates of the experts (on missing Britons)," Straw told a news conference during a visit to the devastated Thai island resort of Phuket.
The total death toll from the tsunami stands at over 150,000, according to government and health officials.
Straw suggested the British toll could change again.
"The fact that (the figures) have more than doubled in the space of four days indicates the imprecision of estimates of this kind," he told BBC radio.
"The scale and magnitude of this disaster makes it literally unique ... In this case, bodies are still being washed up, unearthed, so the total number of potential casualties is still not known."
