Rescue teams in grim search for missing people

RESCUE teams converged on beaches and remote islands in search of the missing yesterday as authorities reported that more than 430 people, including a number of foreign tourists, were killed and 4,100 injured when earthquake-spawned tidal waves devastated idyllic resort areas of southern Thailand.

While officials didn’t provide numbers of foreigners among the victims, local media reports indicated that a sizeable percentage of the dead were Western and Asian holidaymakers.

Dr Piphat Yingseri, a senior official of the Public Health Ministry in Bangkok, said 431 people died and more than 4,100 were injured in the disaster that struck eight provinces in the south.