German Foreign Minister visits Phuket

PHUKET: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer toured Phuket and Phang Nga at the weekend to assess the damage caused by the December 26 tsunami.

Mr Fischer said a top priority should be identifying the bodies of people still classified as “missing”. Some two weeks after the waves hit shorelines around the Indian Ocean, 60 Germans were confirmed dead, while 700 more were still reported as missing.

In addition to Phuket, Mr Fischer visited Wat Yangyao in Phang Nga, where 1,800 bodies are being kept in a makeshift mortuary pending identification.

Mr Fischer later flew to Jakarta to take part in an international conference on the tsunami aid and recovery effort. The German government has said it was prepared to take a lead role in establishing a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean.