British arts minister pays respects

MAI KHAO: British Arts Minister Estelle Morris today became the latest member of a foreign government to pay respects to the tsunami dead.

Ms Morris, accompanied by senior British police office Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Bracker, visited the Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) centre at Mai Khao, where she laid a wreath at the international wall of remembrance and observed a minute’s silence for the dead and missing.

Ms Morris also visited Patong and later met Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura at his Phuket City office.

After the meeting, Ms Morris pledged to tell people in Britain about the “real situation” in Phuket; she said she hoped more British tourists would return to the island before the end of this year.

She told reporters, “I was amazed by how quickly people at Patong have rebuilt their shops. It is a clear signal that this tourist place will recover and be as beautiful as it was before the disaster.”