5 South Africans still missing

2004-12-29 13:52

Johannesburg - Three South Africans are still missing somewhere in Thailand with two more unaccounted for in India after Sunday's devastating tsunami in the wake of a massive quake off the shores of Sumatra.

The bodies of four South Africans known to have died were being ferried back to the country on Wednesday on a mercy flight expected to touch down at Johannesburg International Airport sometime between 13:00 and 14:00.

According to the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, they are Morris Isaacson, Roy Fitzsimmons, Daphne Coetzee and Dolores Ribeira.

With no word at all yet from Paul Sender, Avadya Berman and Nicki Liebovitz they were classified as "acutely missing", said SAJBD Gauteng chairman, Zev Krengel.

Found to be alive and well

SAJBD volunteers on the ground in Phuket were working round-the-clock to trace them, checking the hospitals and mortuaries.

Sender's girlfriend, Gaby Baron, initially feared dead, was actually "alive and well" in Bangkok, airlifted there earlier on in the drama. Also safe in Bangkok were Gary and Ilana Sweidan, he said.

Among the injured on the plane were seven members of the Panaino family. Worst injured among them 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 - a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Phuket - on Tuesday, dazed and bewildered after being airlifted from Phi Phi island, said Krengel.

The Department of Foreign Affairs had no reports of anyone missing anywhere other than Thailand and India "at this stage", said spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.

However, he appealed to South Africans in Southeast Asia, Somalia, Kenya, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Comores to report their presence to their nearest South African mission. Families concerned about missing loved ones should also come forward, Mamoepa said.

Although the mercy flight - put on by the foreign affairs department, Netcare, Discovery Health, the SAJBD, and other private sponsors - had space on board for 220 people, only 65 South Africans were picked up at Phuket Airport and its hospitals, said Krengel.

Made own way home

They included the injured, people with no travel documents and those without any money. The rest of the 1646 South Africans in Thailand when the quake hit appeared to have made their own way home.

Noach said emergency vehicles and personnel were on standby on the apron at Johannesburg International Airport to evacuate the other patients, eight of whom were moderately injured. Most had cuts, scrapes and bruises.

There were 12 children on the flight, said Noach, adding that Netcare had arranged for all the South African evacuees and team members to be debriefed and receive trauma counselling.

It had been a "heartwarming" experience telling "ecstatic" families their loved ones were safe, said Krengel. "It was quite an emotional thing."

- SAPA