Thailand lowers estimates for missing and dead

THAILAND struggled to assess the human cost of its tsunami disaster, pressing ahead with the search for more bodies but sharply reducing the figure for those missing and feared dead.

The embattled meteorology department meanwhile defended itself against criticism that it failed to predict the tsunamis on December 26, which killed locals and foreign tourists alike along the palm-fringed Andaman Sea coastline.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to press ahead with search efforts, turning attention to bodies washed out to sea.