For many families across Europe the Christmas weekend turned into a desperate search for news of loved ones after giant waves battered some of Asia’s most popular holiday resorts, killing thousands of people. Throughout Sunday there was hardly any information from the region about the extent of casualties among Western tourists, though witnesses spoke of holidaymakers washed out to sea by the flooding, caused by an undersea earthquake.

The region’s balmy temperatures and pristine beaches attract tens of thousands of Britons, Germans, Italians, French, Russians, Israelis and others, especially at this time of year when Mediterranean destinations are chilly. Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Dumont said two Belgians were killed on the popular Thai island resort of Phuket and another 17 were reported to be missing. Belgian media said the two dead were a 60-year-old woman and a baby.

Two Danes were killed, five were missing and one was injured, Denmark’s Foreign Ministry said. The Swedish Foreign Ministry said two Swedes were confirmed dead in Thailand. The BBC quoted the British ambassador to Thailand, David Fall, as saying one Briton had died. Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told reporters in Rome that several Italian tourists were missing and some were injured, but he gave no further details. Foreign ministries and tour operators set up telephone hotlines which were immediately swamped. “We are doing everything we can to assist but the disruption to communication in the worst affected areas is inevitably making it difficult to confirm exactly the situation on the ground,” said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

<B>Hotlines </B>

“Obviously there’s a lack of information and a heck of a lot of phone calls,” said Keith Betton, spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents. Charter flights due to take in new groups of tourists would fly to the region empty to help evacuate those on the ground, Betton and other charter agencies said. Betton advised people with loved ones in the region not to panic. “Just be patient with everyone. As soon as we can get the information we will make it public.”

France’s Foreign Ministry set up a crisis centre and a telephone hotline to field questions from anxious relatives. Irina Tyurina, a spokeswoman for Russia’s tourist industry union, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying 1,500 Russians could have been staying on Phuket. “Tour operators have not ruled out that Russians could be among the dead,” she said. For those with relatives in the region, there was little to do but hope.

“My sister and her husband are in the Maldives. We are all so worried. Let us all pray that God is watching over all those involved,” Nikkie Robinson, of Dover in England, told Sky TV. Television beamed witness accounts back home from tourists. French holidaymaker Philippe Gilbert, at a hotel near Tangalle in the south of Sri Lanka, told private channel LCI: “I’ve lost my granddaughter in all of this. I was swept away by an absolutely massive wave ... I was lucky enough to get stuck in some trees and was able to hold my breath,” he said. British tourist Alex Dee in Phuket told Sky: “It was total devastation. People were running up to the jungle and mountains, basically running for their lives just trying to get away from the water.” Among tourists in the region was Austria’s Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser, said to be safe in the Maldives.

<B>Peter Graff</B>