PHUKET — The death toll from the heavy rainfall incident causing flash floods from the mountains and landslides burying houses in Karon Sub-district of Phuket city has increased to 13 on Saturday.
Rescue workers found the bodies of a Myanmar couple under the ruins of their rented house that was buried by a landslide on August. They were lying in an embrace, with flashlights and phones clutched in their hands. When officials invited a female relative to confirm the identities, she cried heavily with grief. It was a heart-wrenching scene.
Meanwhile, the body of an elderly Myanmar woman, who was a bedridden patient, was also found in a rented house room that was buried by the landslide. Officials from the Kusoldharm Phuket Foundation have taken all the bodies to Vachira Phuket Hospital for doctors to conduct autopsy.
Later, Sophon Suwannarat, the Governor of Phuket Province, held a meeting and announced the end of the search for missing bodies after officials had found all 13 missing persons.
These consisted of 5 males and 8 females, including 2 Thai women from Surat Thani and Sakon Nakhon provinces, 2 Russians who were a married couple in a villa, and 9 Myanmar workers (4 males and 5 females). There were 19 people injured, and 209 households in 3 sub-districts, and 9 villages were affected.
This natural disaster in Phuket occurred after heavy rainfall that continued from the night of August 22 until the early morning of August 23, when many people were sound asleep. Mudslides came down from the Nakkerd mountain range, burying houses and luxury villas in Karon Sub-District, specifically in Soi Patak 2, affecting a total of 4 locations. More than 50 houses and rental rooms, as well as 4 luxury villas, were completely destroyed.
Later, rescue workers brought heavy machinery to the area and spread out to search for missing persons at various points throughout the day. On the first day, 10 bodies were found . Most were submerged under mud and collapsed buildings.
Subsequently, Phuket province declared disaster areas due to flooding, water drainage issues, flash floods, and landslides in Mueang Phuket District, including Chalong, Karon, and Rawai sub-districts.
On August 24, Chada Thaiset, Deputy Minister of Interior, along with his team, visited the area to inspect and encourage the victims. He said that immediate problems need to be addressed first, then the government must quickly discuss how to prevent such disasters in the context of different challenges faced by each area.
“Some areas have been encroached upon legally, some illegally. We need to study clearly whether the impact from the mountain range is truly due to temple construction. Experts and the Royal Forest Department need to be involved because Kamala sub-district has no temples or buildings, yet there were landslides. We will consider planting ground cover vegetation, and Kamala sub-district will be a pilot for flood ways,” he said.
Chada added that for the foreign casualties, officials have contacted the Russian consulate and the Myanmar embassy in Thailand. Officials have regulations for compensating both the families of the deceased and those affected.
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