170 confirmed dead and more missing in Thailand

Nearly 170 people were killed and more than 1,900 injured, with scores missing in southern Thai resorts after a major earthquake hit southeast Asia today.

The Narenthorn Centre of the Public Health Ministry centre reported that some people had been swept out to sea from a Phuket beach by tidal waves.

About 10,000 tourists were trapped on higher ground, while others were stuck at sea in boats.

It wasn’t clear how the 168 people died, said the centre’s Naruthat Sriboonruang.

Some of the dead were local workers and at least four tourists were killed. The victims were in Trang, Songkhla, Phuket, Krabi, Ranong, Phang Nga, Satun and Surat Thani provinces, which draw thousands of visitors each year because of their world-famous beaches.

Waves as high as 33ft crashed onto beaches and roadways in Thailand following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia, hitting Asia’s most popular resorts during the peak tourist season of the year.

Another wave hit Patong Beach hours later, washing over the beachside road and sparking an evacuation of the remaining tourists and residents in the island’s densest area. No casualties were reported.

Some 2,000 people took refuge on the hillside in back of the resort area, which looked like a battlezone with damage extending about nearly a mile deep into the town from the sea.

Almost all bungalows, bars and residences in a half sq mile area of the U-shaped beach were obliterated by the surging water.

The Health Ministry centre said that at least 35 people had died and 500 were inured at Patong, probably the worst-hit area of Phuket island, and those casualties figures were expected to increase.

In the midst of the Andaman Sea on Phi Phi island – where ”The Beach” starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed – 200 bungalows at two resorts were swept out to sea, along with some of its staff and customers.

“I am afraid that there will be a high figure of foreigners missing in the sea and also my staff,” said Chan Marongtaechar, owner of the PP Princess Resort and PP Charlie Beach Resort.

Chan, who was in Bangkok on Sunday, didn’t have exact figures of missing or dead because the telephone network was disrupted, but he said 700 people could have been on the beach when the tsunami hit.

Wachira Hospital in Phuket was full, with many foreigners coming from hotels on popular Kamala and Patong beaches, said a hospital official.

Natalia Moyano, one of 29 foreigners and 117 patients being treated there, said at first she didn’t think she was in danger.

“The water kept rising, it was very slow at first, then all of a sudden, it went right up,” said Moyano, aged 22, of Sydney, Australia, who suffered torn ligaments.

In Bangkok, the Foreign Ministry set up a 24-hour centre to help foreigners who have been affected by the disaster, asking them to call 66-2-6435262, extension 5003 and 5502.