43 Chinese tourists missing in Thailand's Phuket after tsunami
29/12/2004 15:19
Forty-three Chinese tourists remained missing in tsunami-hit Thailand'
Phuket, an official of the Chinese Embassy to Thailand said on
Wednesday. Among the 43 missing tourists, five are from the Chinese mainland,
30 from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and eight from China's
Taiwan Province, Pan Guangxue, a counselor of the embassy, told Xinhua at the
relief center in Phuket. He said the Chinese Embassy is trying its best to
search for them, and all the injured mainland tourists have been sent back to
China for medical treatment. So far, 486 mainland tourists have left Phuket
for home and the rest will go back soon, he said. More than 63,000 people
were confirmed or presumed killed in Sunday's tsunamis triggered by a strong
earthquake in the Indian Ocean. According to China's Seismological Bureau,
the earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.7 on the Ritcher scale, occurred at 06:58
a.m. local time (0058 GMT) Sunday off the west coast of the Indonesian island of
Sumatra.
Xinhua
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