More than 4,500 dead in Sri Lanka as waves hit coast

MASSIVE waves triggered by earthquakes crashed into villages along a wide stretch of Sri Lankan coast yesterday, killing more than 4,500 people and displacing a million others, the prime minister's office said.

"It is a huge tragedy and it is unfolding all the time," said Lalith Weerathunga, secretary to the prime minister. "The death toll is going up all the time," he said, adding that the latest body count stood at more than 4,500. "I don't know when I can say that this is it, but the reports of deaths are still coming," Mr Weerathunga said.

He added that he did not think the final toll would reach 5,000, but said the government was not aware what had happened in coastal areas controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels.