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Tsunami bodies wash on to beaches of devastated islands

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Frank Thorne|Peter Dominiczak
12 April 2012

"Truckloads of bodies" were washing up on beaches in Samoa and Tonga today as the islanders began the grim task of recovering the tsunami's victims.

The death toll stood at 149 but was expected to rise. Officials fear hundreds may have died in Western Samoa and American Samoa after 20ft waves swept across the low-lying coastlines late on Tuesday. The tsunami was triggered by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake which hit at the peak of the tourist season, wiping out villages and leaving unknown numbers missing.

A resident of Western Samoa reported seeing "truckloads of bodies" washed up on the island's southern beaches as rescue attempts were hampered by power cuts and communication difficulties.

On the two islands of Western Samoa, Savai'i and Upolu, up to 15,000 people have been made homeless and some 50 villages along the southern coasts have been destroyed. Makeshift camps have been established on higher ground. American Samoa has been similarly devastated and President Barack Obama declared the island a "major disaster".

A British man is feared to be among the victims, according to British officials in the area. Unconfirmed witness reports said he suffered serious injuries after the 20ft waves hit.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that the two-year-old son of a British couple was swept from his parents' arms by the force of the huge waves. He is missing presumed dead with several tourists, including an Australian girl aged six and a 15-month-old Australian boy. Two other Australians were confirmed dead, including Maree Blacker, the wife of racehorse trainer John Blacker, who died in her husband's arms and Vivien Hodgins, 55. A two-year-old girl from New Zealand has also been confirmed dead.

George Fergusson, the British High Commissioner to Samoa and New Zealand, said: "We have had reports of another casualty but none of them have been confirmed.

"There have been eyewitness reports about an English man who was badly injured and has not yet been found. We are still checking hospitals and morgues in the area. We are doing everything we can to ascertain the facts."

Mr Fergusson said the couple who had lost their son were back in New Zealand, where they are believed to live, and were recovering after being discharged from hospital. He added: "The couple who lost the baby are still passing on information to their family."

Gordon Brown sent his "heartfelt condolences" to the victims and added: "All of us watching these scenes will be shocked and saddened at the sheer scale of the devastation. We stand ready to help in any way we can."

Australia has dispatched military helicopters carrying medical and emergency supplies to help. Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith said: "We have a disaster relief management arrangement with New Zealand and also with the United Nations. Given the scale of the disaster, these things are now falling into their proper co-ordinated role."

In neighbouring Tonga, six people have been confirmed dead, with fears 10 more had died on the island of Niuatoputapu.

Aurelia Balpe, head of the Pacific office of the International Federation of Red Cross, said an urgent humanitarian crisis was in the making: "Reports from our volunteers who have been to the area is that it is a scene of total devastation. In some of the villages, not a house has been left standing."

A new typhoon gathered strength today off the Philippines while nearly 700,000 people sought help in badly-stretched relief centres from massive flooding caused by Typhoon Ketsana.

It caused the worst flooding in the northern Philippines in 40 years when it struck on Saturday, and then continued its deadly path across south-east Asia, blowing down wooden villages in Cambodia and crushing Vietnamese houses under mudslides.