Little hope for scores missing from quake hotel

Barring miracles, French hotel group Accor said it had little hope for scores of guests missing from a Thai resort hit by the tidal wave disaster.

The Sofitel Magic Lagoon Khao Lak hotel, north of the resort island of Phuket, had 415 guests on Sunday when the tidal wave struck.

More than 200 of those were still missing today, said Accor.

“There is still hope for a portion of those missing – unfortunately a minority, several dozen. For the rest, we have little hope, except for individual miracles,” Accor chairman Jean-Marc Espalioux said.

A large proportion of hotel guests were thought to be German, an Accor spokesman said.

There were also about 100 French clients and others from Britain, Italy, Hong Kong, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand and Australia, the firm said.

A rough headcount of guests on Sunday after the waves receded turned up 201 survivors, said Accor spokesman Tom Racette, in the Thai capital, Bangkok.