Thailand observed the second anniversary of the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on Tuesday with quiet ceremonies along its southern Andaman coast. Princess Ubolratana, daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who lost her own son in the disaster, led a candlelight vigil in Phang Nga province's Bang Nieng area.
At dawn, mourners cast flowers into the sea near Ban Nam Khem fishing village, remembering roughly 5,400 people killed in Thailand alone, about half of them foreign tourists. A multi-faith service drew some 500 attendees at 9:50 a.m., near the hour the waves struck, while Buddhist monks and approximately 1,000 people observed a minute of silence on Phuket's Patong beach.
Ambassadors and officials from 35 countries attended the formal opening of a Tsunami Victim Cemetery holding 416 unidentified or unclaimed remains. Authorities pledged to continue identification efforts using fingerprints, dental records, and DNA.
As night fell, the princess launched the first of 5,000 paper lanterns above Bang Nieng beach before a crowd of about 1,000. This year's commemorations were notably quieter than those of 2005, with fewer foreign visitors making the return journey.
Reconstruction along the coast has moved quickly in most areas, though some residents say aid has not reached everyone equally. The tsunami itself was triggered by an earthquake off Indonesia and killed around 220,000 people across the Indian Ocean region.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in December 2006, in its own words.