Dozens unaccounted for after tsunami tragedy

Dozens of Irish people are still unaccounted for, three days after the Asian tsunami disaster, it was confirmed today.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said about 700 Irish people were on holiday or resident in the nine countries across the Bay of Bengal when the disaster struck on St Stephen’s Day.

However, Mr Ahern said a substantial amount of those had been located or contacted relatives as the death toll has continued to soar to 70,000.

“You are talking about dozens perhaps unaccounted for, not missing, unaccounted for, and what we are trying to do is home in on those,” he said.

“There are a number of cases that we are worried about and we just have to wait and see if there is subsequent contact, because again the telecommunications are not great out there.”

Officials have been expressing particular concern about two Irish women missing from the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi.

One witness today said about 180 bodies had been taken from the island over the last 24 hours and described the scene as chaotic.

Irish ambassador to Thailand and Malaysia, Dan Mulhall, said they have been searching hospitals.

Mr Mulhall located three young Irish men with minor injuries in hospital today and arranged for them to be airlifted from the region.

The three, from Clontarf and Portmarnock in Dublin had been on Phi Phi island when the tsunami struck, and miraculously located each other in the aftermath.

More than 15 Irish citizens were treated in hospital in Thailand and most were discharged.

The Department is continuing to operate its helpline at 01-4082308, and has appealed to those whose relatives have contacted them to inform the Department.

“We want to concentrate on those cases that we know have in fact been unaccounted for,” Mr Ahern told RTÉ radio.

Mr Ahern said it would take another few days or even weeks to locate the Irish citizens as many of the countries affected had not required visas.

One Irish holiday-maker has told of the “horrific” scenes he saw from his hotel room north of Phuket.

“I saw a wall of water coming down the street. It was pushing people and cars and even an elephant.” said Donie Spillane from Scartaglen, Co Kerry.

“There were dead bodies everywhere. People were dying and in pain. It was horrific.”

The Thai Government are providing free flights to take people out of the area.

“There are quite a lot of European flights where Irish people are coming back on and are being facilitated by our Department officials,” Mr Ahern said.

Mr Ahern said the Thai authorities were putting together a website for relatives to view photographs of the dead in an attempt to locate people.

The Government has doubled its donation to the disaster fund to €2m after the scale of the tragedy was uncovered.

Irish aid agencies are appealing to the public for financial support for the disaster.

The Irish Red Cross said it has already received thousands of euro in donations and Unicef Ireland has pledged €150,000 to the relief effort.

The Foreign Affairs department is still advising Irish citizens against travel to the Maldives, eastern parts of Sri Lanka and the west coast of Thailand.

Other people due to holiday in other tourist resorts in the region in the coming days should check with their travel operator.