Dozens of Irish still unaccounted for in Asia

Dozens of Irish people remain unaccounted for in the aftermath of the earthquake disaster in South East Asia, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said tonight.

Many had made contact with relatives over the last 24 hours, he said, but the whereabouts of dozens of the 700 Irish citizens who were in the region at the time were still unknown.

“We have had some successful contacts today but there are still quite a number of other people that we have not had contact with,” he said.

“Our people on the ground in Sri Lanka and Phuket particularly are checking out as much as they can all of the hospitals and other areas where perhaps people might be.”

The Foreign Affairs Department was now working with phone companies Vodafone and O2 to identify the last location in which people had used their mobile phones.

Mr Ahern said his Department was not confident of the exact numbers of Irish people in the region.

He 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 for travel.

“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.

The two Dublin women were named in Thailand as 27-year-old Eilish Finnegan and Lucy Coyle.

The Foreign Affairs Department said it was “fully aware” of the cases and they were a top priority.

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

The Department pointed out that the telecommunications system was down in many areas and people may be safe but unable to contact home.

The Department stressed that no-one has been classed as missing, although between 10 and 20 families had contacted officials to say they had had no communication with their loved ones.

The Irish ambassador to Thailand and Malaysia, Dan Mulhall, said his staff had been searching hospitals.

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

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

The Department is continuing to operate its helpline on 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.

Irish holidaymakers told of the “horrific” scenes as they arrived back at Dublin airport today.

The Thai government is providing free flights from 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 identify people.

The Irish Government has doubled its donation to the disaster fund to €2m after the scale of the tragedy became apparent.

Irish aid agencies are appealing to the public for financial contributions.

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.

An emergency team from the aid organisation Concern is leaving Dublin for Sri Lanka tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a Church of Ireland clergyman has vowed to continue raising money for the victims of the earthquake.

Canon Tom Haskins, Vicar of St Ann’s and St Stephen’s in Dublin, will be sitting outside his church on New Year’s Day.

His pre-Christmas “sit out” raised €16,000 for homeless charities.

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.