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| Tuesday, 28 December 2004 |
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At least 5200 dead in southern India : PTI NEW DELHI, Monday (AFP,BBC) Tidal waves that battered much of Asia after a massive underground earthquake have killed at least 5200 people in southern India, The Press of India said Monday. The dead included 2,780 dead in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and some 2,000 in the tiny Andaman and Nicobar Islands, close to the epicentre of the Indonesian earthquake, the agency reported, saying its figures were compiled from police and official sources. More than 2,000 people have died after huge waves swept into southern Indian states, following the world's most powerful earthquake for 40 years. The water took 1,705 people in the state of Tamil Nadu alone, officials say. Parts of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala were also struck. Bodies are said to be strewn along the 2,000km (1,200-mile) coastline. In India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was deeply shocked by the devastation. "My heartfelt sympathies are with the families of the bereaved, and with all those affected in our country," he said in a televised broadcast. Sea water flooded the streets of Cuddalore, some 150km (90 miles) south of Madras, overturning several cars and leaving nearly 800 people dead Indian air force helicopters have been pressed into service to evacuate people living in the submerged areas. Nearly 500 tourists have been stranded on the Vivekananda rock memorial, a popular tourist destination on an Indian Ocean island, a few kilometres off the tip of the mainland. Casualty figures on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands could not be officially confirmed, but a police chief told reporters 300 people had died and another 700 were feared dead. More than 100 people have also died in Kerala, a key tourist destination on India's west coast. In Andhra Pradesh state, more than 60 people are thought to have been killed. |
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