More than 4,500 dead in Sri Lanka as waves hit coast
"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.
The rebels, who are fighting for autonomy for the country's 3.2 million Tamils, control coastal areas in the north east. There is no estimate of how many people live in coastal areas under rebel control, but it runs into hundreds of thousands.
Death, devastation and pain were seen everywhere in this tropical island country of 19 million people.
"I counted 24 bodies in a stretch of only six kilometres," said Gemunu Amarasinghe, an Associated Press photographer who went to one of the affected area south of Colombo.
"I saw bodies of children entangled in wire mesh" used to barricade seaside homes.
"There were rows and rows of women and men standing on the road and asking if anyone has seen their family members," said Amarasinghe.
"I also saw people bringing in bodies from the sea beaches and placing them on roads and covering them with sarongs," he said.
Amarasinghe said he was told some of the victims were sucked into the sea when they rushed to retrieve beached fish after the first waves hit and retreated.
"The first waves brought in fish and when the waves went down, some of the fish remained. Some residents went to get them when the second waves hit," Amarasinghe said.
Officials and hospital doctors warned that the death toll was still rising.
Flash floods shut the port in the capital, Colombo, and displaced thousands of people in dozens of villages along the eastern and southern coasts, police said.
The tidal waves also hit the neighbouring island country of Maldives, where authorities closed the airport.
Maldives government spokesman Ahmed Shaheed said waves as high as one metre hit the low-lying capital, Male, two-thirds of which was under water yesterday.
He said there were unconfirmed reports of casualties on other islands.
"The airport itself had been flooded and remains closed," he said in a statement.
BBC reporter Roland Buerk described how he was caught up in the tidal wave when it struck the Sri Lankan resort of Unawatuna.
"It was about 10am our time and we were still in bed when we suddenly heard some shouts from outside. Then the water started coming under the door. Within a few seconds it was touching the window.
"We scrambled out of the room, quickly the water was up to chest height. We made our way out of the hotel, through the incredible rushing water.
"First of all we climbed up into a tree for a couple of minutes but then that began to fall down because of the water. We were swept along for a few hundred metres, trying to dodge the motorcycles and the refrigerators and the cars that were coming with us.
"Finally, about 300 metres inshore, we managed to get hold of a pillar, which we held onto, and then the waters just gradually began to subside.
"This has caused incredible devastation here. There are cars in trees, buildings destroyed."
The journalist explained he was unable to give an accurate picture of casualties from his location.
"Most people have gone up onto higher ground, fearful of another tidal wave."
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