Injured SA tourists in Bangkok

2004-12-29 22:37

Johannesburg - Six severely injured South Africans are still in a Bangkok private hospital after hit by tsunamis in South East Asia, it was confirmed on Wednesday.

Among them is Gaby Baron, girlfriend of Paul Sender, one of the South African tourists still missing in Thailand.

Initially feared dead, Baron was actually "alive and well" in Bangkok, said SAJBD Gauteng chair Zev Krengel. Also safe in Bangkok were Gary and Ilana Sweidan, he said.

They were among three South African men and three women airlifted out of Thailand by an International SOS Air Ambulance on Monday, said its regional general manager Dr Ian Cornish.

Teams on the ground in Phuket were continuing their search for the rest of the missing South Africans - thought to include Avadya Berman and Nicki Liebovitz.

However, time was against them, with a mass cremation of the dead scheduled for Saturday amid fears of the increasing threat of disease with no space left for bodies in mortuaries.

Painano family

Among the injured on the plane were seven members of the Panaino family. Worst injured among them was seven-year-old Chane, who was released from intensive care in Phuket on Tuesday after sustaining head injuries.

Her father and grandfather had been missing, feared dead, but "popped up" at the Krabi relief centre on Tuesday, dazed and bewildered after being airlifted from Phi Phi island, said Krengel.

A Pretoria man with serious chest injuries was in a stable condition, but would be evacuated to Unitas hospital in Centurion on arrival in the country, said Netcare 911 chief executive officer, Dr Ryan Noach.

Thais 'wonderful people'

Piet Britz spent most of Wednesday waiting at Johannesburg International Airport for his brother-in-law, Paul Bester, 74, sister Bessie, 74, and their five-year-old grand-daughter Junke, who spent three hours waiting for medical help in a mountain refuge on Phuket after the tsunami hit on Sunday.

Paul was knocked down by a tree and Junke injured a leg, he said.

The returning South Africans expressed their gratitude to the Thai people. One survivor, Les Venter, said: "I don't think I would like to have shared a disaster with anyone but the Thais."

He said the Thais had opened up their homes to the stranded holidaymakers.

"They were facing devastation, yet they were prepared to care for you," he said, adding that he would like to go back to Thailand.

"Not soon, but yes I'd go back. Right now I'm not even going to go to Durban in a hurry," he said.

Heroes

Tsunami survivors sobbed and broke down when they met their families at Johannesburg International Airport on Wednesday - and praised two young South Africans who co-ordinated the rescue effort.

The men co-ordinating the rescue effort, Daniel Treisman, 23, and Gavin Pearl, 25, are both members of the SAJBD who were holidaying on Phi Phi island when disaster struck.

They went to every hospital bed and every morgue on Krabi and Phuket islands to trace South Africans.

They also set up an SMS campaign to ensure South Africans went to the airport in Phuket for the rescue flight.

The two, looking shell-shocked and exhausted, were modest about their efforts.

"We were asked to do a job and we just went ahead and did it," said Pearl.

Bodies of the dead

The plane-load of survivors was the culmination of a mercy flight aboard a Boeing from Phuket after a tsunami on Sunday left a confirmed 80 000 people dead along the Indian Ocean shorelines.

The bodies of the four dead South Africans were aboard the flight, arranged by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), Discovery Health and Netcare in conjunction with the department of foreign affairs.

According to the SAJBD they were identified as Morris Isaacson, Roy Fitzsimmons, Daphne Coetzee and Dolores Ribeira.

Would go back to help

Looking tired and drained, 14-year-old David Bernstein told reporters at the airport: "All I can think about is the people back there. I would go back there in a moment to help them."

Bernstein and his mother, father and sister, all survived the tsunami while on holiday in Phuket.

The aircraft landed at Johannesburg International Airport shortly before 15:00 on Wednesday.

Deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad told reporters that more flights could be sent to Thailand if the disaster management committee deemed it necessary.

He said an estimated 24 South Africans were still missing in Thailand.

- SAPA