THE landslide triggered by torrential rain lashing Phuket from Thursday night to Friday morning (Aug. 22-23) killed 13 people with a Russian couple and some Myanmar citizens among them, Amarin TV said today (Aug. 24).
Many people had also got hurt but their injuries were mostly minor.
The landslide from Nakkerd Hill and toppled trees damaged over 50 houses, rented rooms and four luxury villas at four points in Soi Patak area of Karon subdistrict.
As of last evening 10 people were found dead with eight trapped in their rented rooms and a Russian couple who died in their luxury villa. Most were buried under the mud and their collapsed dwellings as the landslide tumbled down before dawn when they were asleep.
This morning Phuket Charity Foundation rescuers continued searching for victims with the help of sniffer dogs and found a Myanmar couple hugging each other as they lay dead in their damaged rented room holding a torch and a mobile phone. Their bodies were brought out and their relatives identified them as being the couple who they had reported missing.
Rescuers later found another victim when a backhoe was used to clear a rented room with this being an elderly bed-ridden woman.
Of the 13 people who died, two were Thai women identified as Ms. Supanan Pratuschai, 45, and Ms. Sukji Maisan, 50, nine were Myanmar citizens with five being women and four men as well as the Russian couple who died in their villa, Thai Rath newspaper said.
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The damage caused by the landslide in Phuket. Photos on this page: Amarin TV, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
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