Nightmare disaster

[chico2]

Not to diminish the horror of all the local people in Thailand,tragedy is the same whether they are Swedes or Thais :sad: But after reading the Swedish Newspaper(on-line)seeing up to 1.500 Swedes missing and about 1.000 pictures of babies,teenagers,whole families swept away while enjoying a day on the beach,the multitude of the horror kind of hit home..
Mothers unable to hold on to their kids,people cut up from tin-roofs,whole families swept away etc...
The beauty of Thailand is very popular with Swedes and other Europeans,especially Swedish families,this is the biggest disaster that has ever hit the Swedes.
But unlike the local inhabitants,the surviving Swedes and others can fly home to safety.This is a horrific example of a government ignoring the warnings of an impending disaster,yes,they were warned,but chose not to "upset"the tourists

[Bugsy]

I heard about this right after watching "The day after tomorrow"... eerie huh?

[Karin]

A friend of mine flew home to Sweden yesterday. His fiance and her parents were vacationing there and among the missing. I only found this out because I called his work, I knew the family may have been there, somewhere because after this trip they were heading to Florida for the wedding, scheduled for January 15th in Orlando. This was to be a very special day, both set's of parents share the same wedding Anniversary and this is why they chose the date. Oh, the brides sister was with them too. I forgot to ask about her.

I hope he flew home to great them. His boss said "getting true information is almost nil right now".

I can only hope for the best .

[chico2]

Karin,I read the Swedish"Expressen"every day and for the Swedes this is the worst case of human loss ever.There are still 3.557 Swedes missing,presumed dead.There is just one horrific story after the other :sad:
One that really got to me,is of a husband/father looking for his wife and 2 little boys,found the body of his wife among 2.000 corpses and later,the bloated body of his 6yr old,the 4yr old is still missing.
He's had no help from the Swedish authorities and ended up taking the bodies to Bangkok on his own for cremation.
I am definetly not saying Swedes are more important than the natives,a life is a life...but these two little blond boys looked so much like mine when they were little :sad:

[Iggette]

Bugsy I too just watched that movie......and I had the same thought.......very eerie

It is a very sad time for many, Chico did they really have warning of the storm I never heard that .....altho I have not watched much TV lately either....if so that is just a horrible thought

[Karin]

Chico, I called his boss this morning at the airport. Still no word. He has called every contact phone number in his file and there is no word. He also call the consulate (sp?) for any info on emergency visas and such, they cannot give out this information. Last thing Barry said was he thinks he will not be returning if his family was lost. I am going to try and reach my cousin Alex and see what she can do on that end. They both trained & flew together in south Florida years ago and have remained friends.
I'm crossing everything I have and saying many prayers for all involved.