Sweden fears many of its 1,500 missing tourists in Thailand are dead

12-28-2004, 18h55

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - The Swedish government said it feared that many of the 1,500 Swedish tourists in Thailand who are still unaccounted for after giant tidal waves struck Asian coastlines may be dead.

"We fear that many of them will not be found," Freivalds told a news conference.

Six dead Swedes have been positively identified so far, Freivalds said.

The admission by the Swedish government, which on Sunday had erroneously claimed that all Swedes were out of danger, could mean that the Scandinavian country with a population of nine million citizens turns out the be the European country worst hit by the disaster.

"The tidal wave catastrophe is a national trauma," Freivalds said.

The government's figures of unaccounted-for tourists is slightly below an earlier 1,600 estimate put forward by tourism officials.

Neither estimate includes people who organized their own holiday in Thailand without the help of a travel agency.

When the waves struck, some 20,000 to 30,000 Swedes were believed to be holidaying in the disaster areas, of whom up to 10,000 could have been travelling independently, officials said.

Of Sweden's big three tour operators, Fritidsresor said it still has no news from 600 Swedish travelers in the Phuket and Khao Lak areas.

"We know that many got out of Khao Lak by themselves and have gathered in the mountains," Fritidsresor spokeswoman Eva Olivecrona said, saying agency representatives were on their way to locate survivors.

Another operator, Mytravel, said it did not have any contact with around 500 Swedes in Thailand.

The Apollo agency said it was also still trying to reach 500 of the Swedish holidaymakers it had flown into Thailand for Christmas, but spokesman Mats Dahlqvist said there were "enormous communications problems" with neither fax or data lines working properly.

Some media reports, quoting sources in Thailand, said up to 200 Swedes could be dead in the country.

The Swedish foreign ministry has come under criticism since Sunday for being unable to field the thousands of telephone calls coming in from holidaymakers' families and for having insufficient resources on the ground in Thailand to help Swedes in trouble.

"Sweden is very good at helping distressed people all over the world, as long as they are not Swedes," quipped tabloid Expressen in an editorial on Tuesday.

Papers also picked up on a foreign ministry statement on Sunday which said, falsely as it turned out, that "all Swedes in the disaster-hit areas in Thailand, southern India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are out of danger".

Expressen said the statement was made in "reckless ignorance" and showed "unforgivable cruelty" to the families of Swedish holidaymakers.

"After a terrible morning they were told that everything is fine, only to be plunged back into the nightmare a few hours later," Expressen said.

Freivalds admitted on Tuesday that mistakes had been made, but said Sweden would now step up air transport between Thailand and Sweden, and the minister said she would accompany a rescue team to Thailand on Tuesday to take stock of the situation herself.

In addition to scheduled and charter flights, Freivalds said 20 aircraft were needed to repatriate all Swedes from Thailand.

Half of those planes had been booked with tour operators, and the government would ensure the remainder, with the aim of flying 20,000 Swedes home by January 4.

Sweden has also dispatched a crisis management team to Phuket to help the Swedish embassy, which had set up a temporary bureau in Phuket to help Swedes in distress.

An identification team, made up of doctors, dental identification experts and police, was to leave for Thailand on Wednesday.

--AFP 2004-12-29

Sweden fears many of its 1,500 missing tourists in Thailand are dead

12-28-2004, 18h55

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - The Swedish government said it feared that many of the 1,500 Swedish tourists in Thailand who are still unaccounted for after giant tidal waves struck Asian coastlines may be dead.

"We fear that many of them will not be found," Freivalds told a news conference.

Six dead Swedes have been positively identified so far, Freivalds said.

The admission by the Swedish government, which on Sunday had erroneously claimed that all Swedes were out of danger, could mean that the Scandinavian country with a population of nine million citizens turns out the be the European country worst hit by the disaster.

"The tidal wave catastrophe is a national trauma," Freivalds said.

The government's figures of unaccounted-for tourists is slightly below an earlier 1,600 estimate put forward by tourism officials.

Neither estimate includes people who organized their own holiday in Thailand without the help of a travel agency.

When the waves struck, some 20,000 to 30,000 Swedes were believed to be holidaying in the disaster areas, of whom up to 10,000 could have been travelling independently, officials said.

Of Sweden's big three tour operators, Fritidsresor said it still has no news from 600 Swedish travelers in the Phuket and Khao Lak areas.

"We know that many got out of Khao Lak by themselves and have gathered in the mountains," Fritidsresor spokeswoman Eva Olivecrona said, saying agency representatives were on their way to locate survivors.

Another operator, Mytravel, said it did not have any contact with around 500 Swedes in Thailand.

The Apollo agency said it was also still trying to reach 500 of the Swedish holidaymakers it had flown into Thailand for Christmas, but spokesman Mats Dahlqvist said there were "enormous communications problems" with neither fax or data lines working properly.

Some media reports, quoting sources in Thailand, said up to 200 Swedes could be dead in the country.

The Swedish foreign ministry has come under criticism since Sunday for being unable to field the thousands of telephone calls coming in from holidaymakers' families and for having insufficient resources on the ground in Thailand to help Swedes in trouble.

"Sweden is very good at helping distressed people all over the world, as long as they are not Swedes," quipped tabloid Expressen in an editorial on Tuesday.

Papers also picked up on a foreign ministry statement on Sunday which said, falsely as it turned out, that "all Swedes in the disaster-hit areas in Thailand, southern India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are out of danger".

Expressen said the statement was made in "reckless ignorance" and showed "unforgivable cruelty" to the families of Swedish holidaymakers.

"After a terrible morning they were told that everything is fine, only to be plunged back into the nightmare a few hours later," Expressen said.

Freivalds admitted on Tuesday that mistakes had been made, but said Sweden would now step up air transport between Thailand and Sweden, and the minister said she would accompany a rescue team to Thailand on Tuesday to take stock of the situation herself.

In addition to scheduled and charter flights, Freivalds said 20 aircraft were needed to repatriate all Swedes from Thailand.

Half of those planes had been booked with tour operators, and the government would ensure the remainder, with the aim of flying 20,000 Swedes home by January 4.

Sweden has also dispatched a crisis management team to Phuket to help the Swedish embassy, which had set up a temporary bureau in Phuket to help Swedes in distress.

An identification team, made up of doctors, dental identification experts and police, was to leave for Thailand on Wednesday.

--AFP 2004-12-29

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Of these 1500 aproximately 400 are children.