British death toll from tsunami could approach 200: foreign secretary

LONDON, Jan 3 (AFP) - Forty Britons have died in the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster and 159 others were missing and "highly likely" to have died, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday, suggesting the death toll could approach 200.
It was the first time the British government had listed the number of Britons missing in the disaster.
He said at least 40 British nationals are confirmed as having been killed in the disaster. His office said 29 of them died in Thailand, eight in Sri Lanka and three in the Maldives.
"The final number will be higher than that," Straw told a news conference.
He added a further 159 Britons were missing and were "highly likely" to have perished.
The Foreign Office had been criticised by relatives of the missing for having earlier refused to reveal the numbers.
Straw said Scotland Yard has supplied 113 family liaison officers to assist the bereaved.
A total of 43 British police officers, drawn from across Britain, were also carrying out work to identify bodies in the affected countries.

01/03/2005 13:13 GMT - AFP