Danish travel bureaus, embassies and foreign ministry still have incomplete information on the fate of Danes in areas hit by the tidal waves generated by the undersea earthquake off the coastof Sumatra in Indonesia.

The earthquake registered 8.7 on the Richter scale, the strongest on earth in over 40 years, and sent deadly tidal waves as far away as Kenya, with Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India being most affected.

On the vacation island of Phuket in southwest Thailand, three Danes were reported dead, one was injured, while five others were still missing. Danish tourists on Phuket said they witnessed children drowning and others being swept away by tidal waves.

On Sunday evening, Danish ambassador to Thailand, Ulrik Helweg-Larsen, flew to Phuket along with others from the embassy to provide any needed assistance to Danish tourists.

They hope to gather more complete information about any Danish victims from hospitals and hotels, but the effort is complicated by the number of backpackers and others who travel on their own toout-of-the-way places and islands.

There are believed to be over 5,000 Danish tourists in Thailand.

A special team of around 10 people made up of crisis counselors,doctors and travel guides flew from Copenhagen to Phuket on Sundayevening. Star Tour travel company delayed one of its flights to take the team to Thailand.

Both Star Tour and My Travel charter companies are sending flights from Phuket to Copenhagen on Monday afternoon.

The Danish Foreign Ministry advises people not to travel to theaffected regions and to check its website for information rather than trying to telephone the ministry.