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'Fewer foreigners' died
09/01/2005 11:47 - (SA)
Phuket - Two weeks after the tsunami killed more than 5 300 people in Thailand, the interior ministry Sunday cast doubt on the nationalities of nearly 2 000 of them.
Initial examinations of 1 973 bodies have proved unreliable and are undergoing further tests, the interior ministry said.
Many of the DNA tests were conducted on samples that had already begun decomposing, so tests were being redone on any corpses found more than five days after the tsunami hit, interior minister Bhokin Bhalakula told reporters.
Of the 5 305 people killed, 1 792 are now believed to be Thai, compared with 2 578 on Saturday, and 1 329 were believed to be foreign, compared with the previous figure of 2 516, the ministry said.
The national origin of the remaining 2 184 was uncertain - a ten-fold increase from the 211 whose nationalities were not known on Saturday.
Doubts about the nationalities of the victims came as a stream of foreign dignitaries was visiting Thailand to witness the devastation, check on the international forensics effort, and offer aid.
- AFP
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