Fears for Swedes

THE Swedish government said it feared that many of the 1,500 Swedish tourists in Thailand who are still unaccounted for after giant tidal waves struck Asian coastlines may be dead.

Six dead Swedes have been positively identified so far.

The admission by the Swedish government, which on Sunday had erroneously claimed that all Swedes were out of danger, could mean that the Scandinavian country with a population of nine million citizens turns out to the be the European country worst hit by the disaster.

When the waves struck, some 20,000 to 30,000 Swedes were believed to be holidaying in the disaster areas, of whom up to 10,000 could have been travelling independently, officials said.