Six Thai nursing students missing in New Zealand quake

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วันพุธ ที่ 23 ก.พ. 2554

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BANGKOK, Feb 23 -- The Thai embassy in New Zealand's capital of Wellington reported that six Thai nursing students were missing in the Christchurch earthquake after buildings in the city collapsed in the catastrophic earthquake which resulted in nearly 400 dead or missing, according to Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Jesda Katavetin.

Mr Jesda, deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry's Information Department, told reporters that the embassy had already given the list of the missing students to the search and rescue authorities to search for them.

He said that all six were nursing students. Witnesses saw 11 students walked into a building that later collapsed in Tuesday's shallow, 6.3-magnitude tremor. Five were reportedly safe but six went missing.

However, he said the search and rescue workers rescued more than 100 victims from the debris but could not confirm their identities.

The Associated Press (AP) reported that a number of nurses taking courses at the school were missing, including six from Thailand, two from Japan and one from China.

Thai Ambassador Noppadon Theppitak was quoted as saying that there were three categories of casualties: those confirmed dead, those who were injured and rescued but yet to be identified by the New Zealand authorities; and those who are still beneath buildings.

Mr Jesda said that the embassy officials on Thursday would visit the scene while four or five homes of Thais living in the city were damaged from the quake.

Some of the Thai victims did not stay at Buddha Samakhee temple which the embassy had designated as their temporary shelter, but opted to stay at the homes of relatives, he said.

The deputy director general added that communication in Christchurch was still difficult as telephone calls were disrupted for some time.

Teams from Australia, Japan, the United States, Britain, Singapore and Taiwan were to join hundreds of local rescuers digging through the rubble in the second largest city of New Zealand. (MCOT online news)