150 Canadians Feared Missing in Thailand

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150 Canadians feared missing

Officials say as many as 13 canadians killed by tsunami in Thailand

PHUKET: -- Thai authorities say as many as 13 Canadians are dead from the tsunami that devastated beach resorts around this tropical island and the Canadian Embassy estimates 150 could still be unaccounted for five days after the tragedy.

Embassy officials do not know how many Canadians were staying on Thailand's west coast when the waves generated by a huge undersea earthquake off Indonesia ripped through the resorts.

"People often don't register with the embassy and if they came through the capital, Bangkok, there's no record of them with the Thai immigration authorities at the airport here," Denis Comeau, Canada's ambassador to Thailand, said in an interview Wednesday.

But officials are working on past years' experience that suggests about 500 Canadians may have been spending their Christmas holiday here.

The Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa is still trying to get more information via the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand does not understand or know who those Thai authorities are who issued those figures and where they come from," Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron said. "We're checking it, but it doesn't match what we have at this time."

Two Canadians have been confirmed dead in Thailand and one -- Mathieu Lafond, 28, of Repentigny near Montreal -- has been positively identified, Comeau said, but he is certain that number will rise as the process of trying to identify bodies continues. A third Canadian is confirmed dead in Sri Lanka.

"Your senses tell you there are going to be more," he said.

Trying to account for missing

Comeau said his staff are shifting focus to trying to account for the missing tourists now that most of the Canadian survivors of the disaster have been helped.

"We have processed here, as of this morning, 250 people," Comeau said. He was speaking at the Canadian Embassy office at the emergency response centre established by the Thai authorities at the Phuket province offices here.

The centre offers survivors food, clothing, free telephone calls to relatives, Internet access and a speeded-up and pared down immigration process so they can leave Thailand with temporary documents to replace lost passports and visas.

Thai Airlines is providing five free flights a day to ferry survivors to Bangkok and the Australian national carrier, Qantas, is also providing free flights home for its nationals.

"My sense is we have probably dealt with the bulk of Canadians who need help, perhaps 60 or 70 per cent of them," Comeau said. "There are going to be others still coming in from more isolated resorts in the next few days, but our efforts now are going to focus on those unaccounted for."

There are 51 Canadians who have been listed as missing by friends and relatives, Comeau said. And there are 25 in hospitals in Phuket, mostly with broken bones and cuts and bruises.

In efforts to double check the numbers of Canadians listed as injured, officials toured all the area hospitals Wednesday and asked patients to confirm their nationality.

--Canada.com