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01/02/2005:

"Tsunami Death Toll May Reach 200,000"

The world will never know how many people lost their lives in the cataclysm that struck the Indian Ocean region a week ago.

The official death toll moved incrementally forward to 123,184 yesterday, with more than 80,000 of these in Indonesia and nearly 30,000 in Sri Lanka. But one leading observer ­ Laila Freivalds, the Swedish Foreign Minister ­ said after visiting Thailand: "The whole area is still chaotic. Dead bodies are being collected, boats are arriving from the islands loaded with dead people. In the whole area, the death toll is beginning to rise towards 200,000."

Full Article : commondreams.org