Fears two Irish women among the dead

FEARS are growing that two Irish women are among the more than 1,000 people confirmed dead in Thailand.

The women were reported missing from the island resort of Phi Phi, one of the areas worst affected by Sunday’s disaster.

Between five and 10 Irish people remain in hospital across the south-east Asian region, the Department of Foreign Affairs said last night.

A number of others have already been discharged after treatment for minor injuries.

However, a clear picture of Irish casualties has yet to emerge because communications lines were badly damaged and remain down in many places.

The department and consular officials in the region are working from a list of approximately 500 Irish people reported to have been living or holidaying in the countries affected.

The consular officials are drawn from the Irish embassies in Malaysia, which also covers Thailand, India, which also handles Sri Lanka, and Singapore, which additionally covers Indonesia.

The Department of Foreign affairs would not say how many people had been accounted for.

“We’re saying not everybody has been accounted for and we’re continuing our efforts to shorten the list of those who have not made contact,” said a spokesperson.

However, the Irish ambassador to Malaysia admitted earlier that the Government had serious concerns about a specific number of people in Thailand.

“We have particular concerns about people who we know to have been in areas which were particularly badly affected by the tidal wave, places like Phi Phi and Patong beach,” said Dan Mulhall.

Yesterday Mr Mulhall toured hospitals in the Thai resort of Phuket in a bid to locate missing Irish people.

The department, meanwhile, has appealed for those who have heard their relatives are safe to contact its helpline so these persons can be removed from the missing list. The helpline number is 01 408 2308.