The remains of four more people believed to have been killed in December’s tsunami have been found in Thailand, including one that appeared to be a Caucasian woman, an official said on Thursday.
A body believed to be that of a foreign woman was found on Tuesday in the basement of the devastated French hotel Sofitel Magic Lagoon at Khao Lak beach in Phang Nga, the province hardest hit by the deadly waves, the commander of a victim identification unit said.
Skeletal remains of three other people were found on Phi Phi island, which was crushed during the tsunami nearly five months ago, and brought on Thursday to authorities in Phuket, police Colonel Khemmarin Hassiri said.
”On Tuesday afternoon, we found the body of a Caucasian woman inside the deserted Sofitel Magic Lagoon hotel,” Khemmarin said.
Her badly decomposed body was still in a swimsuit and wearing bracelets, but based on the size of her body and her hair, authorities believe her to be a Westerner, he said.
”But the three new bodies that were turned in to [the victim-identification unit] in Phuket were bones. I will have no idea what their nationalities are until we conduct forensic tests,” he said.
A 60-member team was working to drain the Sofitel’s waste-water treatment plant, Khemmarin added, fearing that bodies may have been sucked to the bottom of the tanks during the tsunami.
”We have asked for a bigger water-pumping machine from Phang Nga province to drain the water, and in the next two days I hope that we will be able to clean the waste at the bottom,” he said.
Ten teams had already searched through the hotel, but a team was asked to make a final complete inspection, including in the waste water and beneath heaps of debris still scattered across the property, Khemmarin said.
After the tsunami, 278 people were presumed dead at the hotel — including staff and guests — but only about 200 bodies have been identified, he added.
The Thai interior ministry’s disaster-prevention unit’s latest death toll released on Wednesday said the tsunami killed 5 395 people, including 2 245 foreigners, 1 975 Thais and 1 175 people of unknown nationality.
The list of missing people includes 2 822 names, including 789 foreigners. — Sapa-AFP