The Hindu : International : Efforts on to trace over 30 Indians in Thailand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 30, 2004

International

International

Efforts on to trace over 30 Indians in Thailand

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, DEC. 29. While three Indians, including the wife of a citizen of Thailand, have died in Sunday's tsunami-strike at Phuket and nearby holiday resorts, efforts are under way to trace over 30 other Indians.

These people, who might have been in the vicinity of the areas hit by the tsunami, are not formally classified as "missing persons" in the absence of information regarding their actual presence at the resorts at the time of the disaster. Nearly 40 other Indians, said to have been in or near the disaster zone, are reported to be safe. They have either left for their homes or other destinations.

The Charge d' Affaires of the Indian Embassy in Bangkok, T. P. Seetharam, said that the embassy was receiving e-mails from friends and relatives of Indian travellers. There was no need for mass evacuation of Indians in the affected areas, as many had left after the Phuket airport reopened following a temporary closure just after the tsunami.

In Malaysia, the authorities have said that there are no Indians among the dead and those hospitalised. The Indian Deputy High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur, Sanjay Panda, said that the Information Centre set up by the Commission would remain operational to process enquiries regarding the Indians who might have been in the general vicinity of the tsunami-hit areas.

Eyewitness account

Speaking to The Hindu over the telephone from Bangkok, an Indian investment banker, Tushar G. Shah, who survived the disaster at Phuket, narrated his experience of being virtually swamped by the tidal surge in the ground-floor room of a hotel along the Patong beach.

Mr. Shah, who is in hospital before his departure to India, said that two huge waves struck the resort at first and three other huge waves followed. He, his wife and son managed to "swim" out, while the furniture started "flying" and the water level rose. He and his wife clung onto a tree in the hotel garden. As the tides became stronger, his wife lost her grip and was carried away. Their son survived the tsunami.

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