Tourists from Latvia mostly spared by tsunamis

Published: 2 January 2005 y., Sunday
At least one tourist from Latvia has been reported hurt in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 tsunamis that claimed at least 80,000 lives throughout South Asia, the news agency LETA reports. Meanwhile, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says a total of 228 tourists from Latvia might have been in the affected countries. Vladimirs Kuļišovs, a businessman from Latvia, lost a finger and suffered a broken leg when a tsunami hit the coastal resort of Phuket in Thailand, where he, his wife, his son and his son’s girlfriend were vacationing, according to LETA. The Foreign Ministry said Dec. 29 that so far it has verified that 206 of the 228 tourists were not hurt. Earlier, accounting for 126 tourists, the Foreign Ministry said the greatest number, 73, were in Thailand. A total of 37 were believed to be in Sri Lanka. Nine were India, 26 were in the Maldives, five were in Malaysia, and seven were in Bali in Indonesia. A number of tourists from Latvia in Sri Lanka and Thailand have lost their passports, the Foreign Ministry said. The tsunamis were caused by a powerful earthquake — registering 8.9 on the 10-point Richter scale — that occurred the morning of Dec. 26 in the Indian Ocean about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Particularly hard hit by the tsunami was the Sri Lankan coastal district of Batticaloa, where an estimated 12,500 people have perished, according to news reports.
Šaltinis: latviansonline.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

Gates no longer richest

Ingvar Kamprad, the Swede who founded furniture retail chain IKEA, has overtaken Microsoft's Bill Gates as the world's richest man more »

The highways of European significance

Roads in Lithuania are among the best in EU accession states more »

King of chess in Lithuania

Anatolij Karpov chess school was inaugurated on May 30 in Vilnius. The school is established in “Santara” Vilnius secondary school. more »

New beer jam to hit Czech market

A family brewer in Chodova Plana, in the western Czech Republic, has invented a new way to enjoy the lager flavour on a slice of toast more »

EU expansion draws attention to 'new Europe'

Upstairs from a McDonald's and across the hall from a casino, Prague's latest attraction greets visitors with a hulking iron statue of Lenin more »

Vilnius is a better place to live than Riga or Tallinn

Quality of life in Vilnius is higher than in Riga or Tallinn, says a recent poll by Mercer Human Resources Consulting more »

European Year of Education through Sport 2004

High tech jumpers and classical philharmonic sounds to welcome the European Year of Education through Sport 2004 more »

A world record in drinking

Latvian police said a drunk picked up with around twice the blood-alcohol level considered deadly had probably set a world record but would wake with a hangover to match more »

Beethoven manuscript fetches $2.7m

Ludwig van Beethoven's original manuscript for the scherzo movement of the string quartet in E flat sold for more than Ј1 million ($A2.73 million) at auction early today more »

Swedish model Nordegren snares a prized catch

Tiger Woods is to marry his Swedish girlfriend Elin Nordegren, the 23-year-old former model’s father has confirmed more »