ABC News
Tidal Waves Death Toll Rises to 44,000
Death Toll From Epic Tidal Waves Reaches 44,000; Aid Groups Begin Historic Relief Efforts
Friends and family members search through debris for the bodies of loved ones Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004, near Takuapa, Thailand. The death toll in Thailand from a killer tsunami wave, triggered by a massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, is expected to rise above 1,000 as bodies continued to be collected from the damaged beach areas near Phuket. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
The Associated Press
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia Dec 28, 2004
— Mourners in Sri Lanka used their bare hands to dig graves Tuesday while hungry islanders in Indonesia turned to looting in the aftermath of Asia's devastating tsunamis. Thousands more bodies were found in Indonesia, dramatically increasing the death toll across 11 nations to around 44,000.Emergency workers who reached Aceh province at the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island found that 10,000 people had been killed in a single town, Meulaboh, said Purnomo Sidik, national disaster director at the Social Affairs Ministry.
Another 9,000 were confirmed dead so far in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, and surrounding towns, amid unconfirmed reports that other towns along Aceh's west coast had been demolished, he said.
In Sri Lanka, the toll also mounted significantly. Around 1,000 people were dead or missing and feared dead from a train that was flung off its tracks when the gigantic waves hit. Rescuers pulled 204 bodies from the train's eight carriages reduced to twisted metal and cremated or buried them Tuesday next to the railroad track that runs along the coastline.
More than 18,700 people died in Sri Lanka, more than 4,000 in India and more than 1,500 in Thailand, with numbers expected to rise. The Indonesian vice president's estimate that his country's coastlines held up to 25,000 victims brought the potential toll up to 50,000.
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