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100 feared dead in Thai floods
24/05/2006 08:10 - (SA)
Uttaradit - Up to 100 people were feared dead in floods and mudslides in northern Thailand, as rescue teams struggled to clear roads to reach the hardest-hit areas, officials said on Wednesday.
"One hundred dead is our preliminary estimate, but we are still receiving reports of missing people," Suksan Wanaputi, acting governor of the hardest-hit province of Uttaradit, told AFP.
Mudslides blocked the roads leading to Lab Lae district, where many of the victims are believed to have been swept away by the floodwaters or buried in the mud in the mountainous region, he said.
Up to 2m of water still covered the streets in parts of the province, he added.
27 bodies recovered
The nearby provinces of Nan, Phrae, Lampang and Sukhothai were also hit by the floods after unusually early monsoon rains drenched northern Thailand at the weekend.
So far 27 bodies have been recovered, the interior ministry said, but the death toll was expected to rise as emergency teams began digging through the mud.
About 1 200 people have been evacuated, while more than 75 000 have suffered damage either to their homes or their farms, the ministry said.
At least 168 homes were destroyed in the floods, while 25 schools, temples or government buildings were damaged, the ministry added.
Some 1 000 people who had been stranded at the Den Chai train station in Phrae province were rescued late on Tuesday and brought to Bangkok, the State Railway of Thailand said.
But service on lines running north from Bangkok to the city of Chiang Mai were suspended for a second day, SRT spokesperson Monthskarn Srivilasa said.
"The floods have inundated the rail lines in the north, and the water is still high. We have to wait until it recedes so we can repair the tracks," Monthskarn told AFP.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra headed to the region early on Wednesday to inspect relief efforts in the flood-hit provinces.
Before leaving, he said he had authorised the military and police to send heavy equipment to help clear roads, and vowed government aid for the flooded region.
Thaksin also blamed the devastation in part on illegal logging in the region, where clear-cutting has left many hillsides barren.
"There is frequently illegal logging in that area, and officials have tried to solve the problem. We did manage to arrest a few people recently," he told reporters.
Thaksin made the trip just one day after he formally returned to office. Seven weeks ago, he stepped aside in the wake of street protests and a controversial election that has since been invalidated by the courts.
- AFP
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