Two Bahrainis Missing In Thai Tidal Wave Disaster

Two Bahrainis missing in Thai tidal wave disaster

MANAMA - Two Bahrainis are missing in Thailand after tidal waves struck the country at the weekend, a Bahraini official said Wednesday.

Officials in most other Gulf Arab states said none of their citizens were reported dead or missing following the massive earthquake and tidal waves that struck Indian Ocean shorelines on Sunday, killing more than 60,000 people.

�There is no word about two Bahrainis� who were among a group of 23 visiting Thailand, Yussef Ahmed, head of consular affairs at the foreign ministry in Manama, told AFP.

�Half of the 23, if not most of them, came back to Bahrain the night before last ... Others are in Bangkok and they are fine. We are trying to establish the whereabouts of the two about whom there are no news,� Ahmed said.

�So far, there are no injuries or (confirmed) deaths� among Bahrainis, he added.

The interior ministry in Bangkok said Wednesday that 4,086 people were listed as missing in Thailand after the tidal waves that hit six southern provinces, apart from 1,657 confirmed dead.

A source at the Saudi foreign ministry in Riyadh said the kingdom had so far not been informed of any Saudi casualties in the disaster.

Kuwaiti foreign ministry undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah had earlier also said no Kuwaitis were affected by the disaster, while the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Bangkok issued a statement saying no Emiratis were among the victims of the tsunamis.

An Omani foreign ministry official also told AFP none of the sultanate�s nationals had been hurt in the Asian disaster.

--AFP 2004-12-29