Forty-three Chinese tourists who were vacationing on Phuket Island when Sunday's tidal waves struck are missing, a Chinese embassy official in Thailand said yesterday.
Among the missing are five people from the mainland, 30 from Hong Kong and eight from Taiwan Province, the embassy's Pan Guangxue reported at a relief center in Phuket.
The official said two Chinese nationals were killed and 25 wounded by the devastating tidal waves.
One of the killed was from Hong Kong, the other from Taiwan Province.
He said all injured mainland tourists have been sent back to China for medical treatment.
So far, 486 travelers from the mainland have departed Phuket for home, and the rest will return soon, he said.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong government released the identity yesterday of the Hong Kong man who died in Phuket: a Mr Leung, 39, who held a Hong Kong identity card and a British passport.
Meanwhile, regular travel services to the disaster region have been put on hold.
Air China has suspended its two weekly flights to Phuket due to Sunday's tragedy. But the carrier did send an empty plane to the island on Tuesday to ferry back stranded travelers.
Tourism companies, including China Travel International, Comfort Travel and Beijing Travel Service, are working out compensation for those who registered to travel there later this month.
CTI's Yang Weihong said Southeast Asian tours will be affected in the short term, but that tourism should gradually rebound.
An Airbus 747 belonging to China southern cargo landed at Sri Lanka's Bandaranaike International Airport yesterday afternoon, carrying relief goods for those who lost their homes when the tidal waves struck.
China's Ambassador to Sri Lanka Sun Guoxiang handed over relief goods worth 10 million yuan (US$1.22 million) and US$200,000 in cash to Sri Lankan authorities.
On behalf of the Chinese government and people, Sun expressed sympathy to the families of the victims, and said he hoped the aid would be distributed as soon as possible.
The relief goods included blankets, tents, bed sheets and food.
Also yesterday, China donated US$300,000 to the Thai government for disaster relief.
The donation, in the form of a check for 1.2 million baht, was handed by Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jiuhuan to Thai Foreign Minister Surakiat Sathirathai.
Zhang extended condolences to the families of the Thai victims.