Foreign tourists missing as tidal waves slam Thailand's Phuket resort

[Barry]

BANGKOK (AFP) - Huge tidal waves struck southern Thailand's popular resort island of Phuket, sweeping at least four foreign tourists out to sea, sinking boats and forcing the evacuation of hotels, officials said on state radio.

 

"As of now there are four foreign tourists missing and we are conducting a search," deputy Phuket governor Pongpao Ketthong said.

 

Phuket's major beach town, Patong, was flooded and extensive damage had been reported from a series of two-metre (6.5-foot) high waves that slammed the tropical island's west coast at about 8:30 am (0130 GMT), a rescue worker said.

 

"Many tourists were swept into the sea" but exact numbers were not known, the rescue worker, Mongkol Ketsunthorn, said on the radio.

 

Christmas and new years are peak seasons in Phuket, a resort island that sees hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors each year.

 

"Tourists were also on the (nearby) beaches of Karon, Kata and Kamala when a giant wave suddenly hit and swept everything up into the sea," he added.

 

He said all shops, kiosks and hotels along Patong beach were damaged by the tsunami, which were the likely result of a massive earthquake that struck west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra early Sunday, which the US Geological Survey said measured 8.5 on the Richter scale.

 

Several international hotels were completely evacuated on emergency police orders. Hotels on Patong were not answering their telephones.

 

"Police came to the hotel and ordered all guests to leave immediately," a manager at the Panwa Beach Resort on Phuket's southwest coast told AFP, adding that the waves had not caused extensive damage at her property.

 

Frantic relatives of boatsmen, some of whom apparently captained tourist boats in Phuket waters, called in to say the boats had capsized or went missing.

 

Tourists and residents were reported rushing to higher ground or clogging the road routes to the north heading off the island, which is connected to the Thai mainland by a road bridge.

[Ignoto]

Tsunami toll rises in Thailand

December 26, 2004

 

Tsunamis crashed into a tourist area of southern Thailand today, killing at least 55 people and leaving more than 700 hurt or missing.

 

The government ordered the immediate evacuation of the stricken areas, which included beaches on the resort island of Phuket popular with Western and Asian tourists and at the height of their season.

 

It sent helicopters to Koh Phi Phi, another island popular with tourists, and other smaller islands in the Andaman Sea to assess the damage there.

 

The tsunamis, triggered by an earthquake measured at 8.9 magnitude by the US Geological Survey, which called it the fifth biggest earthquake since 1900, struck the mainland provinces of Phang Nga, Krabi and Satun as well as Phuket.

 

Stunned Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called the tsunamis unprecedented after officials reported one wave 5 to 10 metres high hit hotel-lined beaches on Phuket, which appeared to be the worst hit.

 

"Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before," he said.

 

Government officials said 29 people were killed on Phuket, 15 in Krabi, 10 in Phang Nga and one in Satun.

 

It was not immediately known how many of them were foreigners, but on Phuket, at least one tourist was killed and four or five more may have been swept out to sea.

 

"I got a report that tourists playing in the water were swept out to sea and four to five tourists were reported missing," Phuket governor Udomsak Asvarangkul told Reuters.

 

One foreigner was known to be among the dead in Krabi.

 

Thai television showed scenes of devastation on one Phuket beach. Store fronts were damaged and cars and motorcycles were strewn around after being tossed about by the powerful waves.

 

A Thai man carried one elderly Western man in swimming trunks to safety on his back, ITV showed.

 

The wave knocked out electricity supplies in Phang Nga, provincial governor Samacha Bhothithavorn told Reuters.

 

The tsunamis may have killed as many as 1500 people in Sri Lanka, southern India and Indonesia. The earthquake was off Indonesia's northern province of Aceh.

 

- Reuters

[Ignoto]

Here are some first-person accounts from the BBC website:'

 

Here in Kata Beach on the coastal roads a big mess, with motorbikes, lanterns, roofs etc floating around. There were lots of people on the beach this morning, I have seen two bodies myself, plus quite some people are still missing.

 

The damage is considerable, some of the major hotels here are flooded. Patong Beach, the main tourist destination on Phuket, has been hit a lot harder, more than half the town has been flooded. --Steven van Leeuwarden, Phuket

 

 

I live on the 25th floor of a seemingly well constructed 31 floor building, next to the British embassy.

 

But the shaking was tremendous.

 

All staff ran out immediately of the building

 

My first thought was, that someone came into my room, because I heard some noise, sounded like somebody broke into my room.

 

Then I thought I was dreaming, because the floor was moving.

 

Then I started to realise what was going on and stepped outside my door to see what other residents were doing.

 

I saw nobody. Normally the housekeeping staff would be cleaning and I thought I heard them screaming and leaving the building.

 

I told my girlfriend to get dressed and we ran down the stairs, all 25 floors. --Marcel Emmeneger, Bangkok

 

 

We were anchored in Patong beach [Thailand], where the beach area basically drained of water, then after five minutes the water filled back in and large waves approximately 8m high crashed onto the main road in Patong.

 

Small boats dragged anchors. The beaches along the west side of Phuket were basically washed away.

 

All boats are standing by for more after reports of a quake in the Nicobar islands. --Mike Ryniker, Phuket

 

 

A friend of mine, who is on holiday with her husband and children in Phuket, called and said that there was a disaster. Their hotel was ruined and they are now standing on a mountain, waiting for the next wave, terrified. --Victoria, Sweden

 

 

I live in Ao-Nang Krabi [Thailand]. The scene is quite bad here - with upturned boats lying broken and strewn across the street. Many tourists and locals are missing - they were leaving on tours as the wave hit. Army and police are arriving in their masses. --Rob Bysouth, Krabi, Thailand

 

 

This morning my brother called me to say that he is alive. He lives on the small tourist island, Koh Phi Phi near Phuket in south Thailand. He reported that: "The whole island is smashed, there are dead people all over!" He was trying to find his Thai girlfriend and a Danish friend. --Stinus, Copenhagen, Denmark

[Guest icon513]

Woke me up this morning in my Bangkok condo. Quite something!

[Ignoto]

Bangkok is, what, about 500 miles from the epicenter?

 

Here are some other first-person accounts from Phuket:

 

My art gallery on the Beach Road containing 4000 paintings has been literally swept away and with it 18 years of my wife's work and ten years of mine. The worst part is that the government has stated that another Tsunami is on the way and will strike at any time now so maybe our house which is about 7 minutes from the beach is next to go.

Paul Conner, Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand.

 

My husband was walking on the beach in Nai Harn when he noticed people running. When he turned around the water was rushing back in towards the shore. He didn't have time to run, so he just started swimming. He got washed into the lagoon at the end of the beach and found himself caught in a boiling whirlpool. He was lucky enough to see a large, red cooler box and grabbed onto it. After a few minutes he was close enough to the jungle to grab onto a tree and pull himself out. The beach is a disaster now with all of the local restaurants and beach chairs businesses totally destroyed.

Ms. Q, Phuket, Thailand

 

My son Alan is in the Holiday Inn hotel right on the beach in Phuket. They are without power and therefore radio and TV, hence no outside contact. There is a shark washed up in the hotel swimming pool. He saw a couple of bodies and a mother being separated from one of two children whose hands she was holding as the water swept one of them away.

Alan Burr, Bromley, UK

[+ Axiom2001]

This thread perhaps should have been written and placed in the general forum since it is not escort related; the only siginificance of its being here is geographical location, but the content is of general magnitude (nature)! :-)

[+ Lucky]

RE: Foreign tourists missing

 

Good point, Axiom. Perhaps Barry could move it to the Lounge. Having been to Patong Beach in Phuket (which Larry King pronounces Puke-it, and many times to Thailand, the news has added interest for me. I wonder if others feel the same.

[Barry]

RE: Foreign tourists missing

 

>Good point, Axiom. Perhaps Barry could move it to the Lounge.

>Having been to Patong Beach in Phuket (which Larry King

>pronounces Puke-it, and many times to Thailand, the news has

>added interest for me. I wonder if others feel the same.

 

I agree and I'll move it though it's seems sadly unreal knowing now the true extent of the disaster. I posted this very soon after it hit the wires and the feared dead were double digits.

[+ Lucky]

RE: Foreign tourists missing

 

Thanks, Barry. I didn't even have to beg!

 

One thing about the tsunami is that it didn't care what your religion was or your sexual orientation. Bad people, good people...it was indifferent. The good runners probably had a better chance, but even if one paused for a second it could make the difference of survival. Truly a message from the earth about how unimportant so many things can be.

[+ deej]

RE: Foreign tourists missing

 

>Thanks, Barry. I didn't even have to beg!

 

Well, you *could* have. He might've enjoyed it. ;-)

 

>One thing about the tsunami is that it didn't care what your

>religion was or your sexual orientation. Bad people, good

>people...it was indifferent. The good runners probably had a

>better chance, but even if one paused for a second it could

>make the difference of survival. Truly a message from the

>earth about how unimportant so many things can be.

 

I've seen news reports that animal refuges are reporting NO animal casualties. They've found no giraffe or elephant bodies, or whatever is indigenous, nothing.

 

Even though the water washed over their normal (and "protected") grazing areas, some sixth sense sent the animals to higher ground before the tsunami arrived.

 

Humans, meanwhile, went wandering around newly exposed beaches as the water sucked away from land before striking.

 

And we have the nerve to call THEM dumb animals!

[+ Lucky]

RE: Foreign tourists, fish, missing

 

It makes you wonder what the fish did! Shouldn't millions of dead fish be floating up on shore by now?

[+ Charlie]

RE: Foreign tourists, fish, missing

 

Fish don't drown.

[Chuck50]

RE: Foreign tourists, fish, missing

 

I wonder how many of our brothers who may not have much family or are estranged from them could be missing and we would never know. I hope they all are found and I know this is hard on us all to watch this carnage of a different type. HUGS Chuck

[tedbear]

RE: Foreign tourists, fish, missing

 

>Fish don't drown.

 

http://www.myoan.net/facts/facts_fish_drown.html

[+ Lucky]

RE: Foreign tourists, fish, missing

 

Tedbear, thanks for the link to the facts. Apparently Charlie gets his info from some tuna that doesn't have the internet!

 

But that leaves the question of how disrupted the marine life was by the tsunami.

[jakobsen]

RE: Foreign tourists missing

 

I read this same story filed by Reuters in the Bangkok Post on Thursday morning. Amazing!

 

This week's tragedy finally hit me as I was checking out of my hotel in Bangkok very early this Friday morning. On the counter of the concierge of the hotel where I was staying was a poster and a picture of a 5-year old Swedish boy who is still missing. It was evidently the last photograph taken of him alive since the description of the clothes and necklace he's wearing matches the photo. He looked like your typical mischievous five-year old kid complete with a tatoo sticker on his arm. What a lost and what a tragedy for his family! May he and others rest peacefully.

[tedbear]

RE: Foreign tourists, fish, missing

 

>>Fish don't drown.

>

>http://www.myoan.net/facts/facts_fish_drown.html

 

 

I just re-read this thread and realized my above response might seem insensitve to those affected by the Tsumnami. Please be assured it wasn't meant as any comment on the horrible catastrophe. When I read the "Fish don't drown" message, I thought I remembered reading that they could, in fact, drown. I googled the phrase, then posted what I found without realizing how out of context it might seem.

 

I spent a good portion of the night watching Anderson Cooper's 360 as well as other news shows showing the Indian Ocean crisis onand found myself near (or at) tears several times. Every day the news is more horrific as the death numbers skyrocket. I've sent money to the Red Cross via Amazon.com and will probably send more.

 

If there's any postive aspect of this, it's seeing how people are helping strangers in spite of dealing with their own loss and tragedy.

[londonbear]

RE: Foreign tourists, fish, missing

 

It may seem perverse but the best place to be is as far out to sea as possible. Things like small boats can ride out the wave. It is only when the vast body of water approaches the shore that the destruction starts.

 

The first event is the sea retreating, reports from eye witnesses are that the recent one revealed hundreds of metres of sea bed. That is followed by the wave itself. Depending on the frequency of the wave generated by the quake, the sea level may not rise by much vertically but will just go on and on, with the speed of the water increasing as it meets higher ground.

 

For the fish, it will be those living at or near the shoreline which will be most affected. Many will be swept inland and stranded as the waters retreat or evaporate.

[+ Charlie]

RE: Foreign tourists, fish, missing

 

Encarta Dictionary:

 

DROWN, vti. die by immersion in water; suffocation in a liquid

 

That's why the author of the article about fish put "drowned" in quotes.