PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) - The death toll from a deadly tsunami that devastated Thailand's southern tourist playground surged close to 400 as rescue workers worked overnight, retrieving bodies and searching for injured.

Government officials said early on Monday at least 392 bodies were found in stricken areas in six western Thai provinces bordering the Andaman Sea but some expected the final toll to approach 1,000.

Witnesses spoke of a wave three stories high which tossed cars around and burst into luxury hotels on the holiday island of Phuket, popular with Western and Asian tourists and currently at the height of the Christmas holiday season.

The tsunami, triggered by an earthquake off Indonesia on Sunday that was measured at 8.9 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey, destroyed thousands of houses and small hotels on the mainland and injured more than 5,000 people.

Disaster officials said at least 130 people died in Phuket, including several dozen foreigners. Nearly 700 people were injured and 214 missing.

The hardest hit area was Phang Nga, north of Phuket, where rescue workers found 181 drowned. Officials expected the final death toll in Phang Nga, which has 19 miles of shorelines, to rise to more than 500.

Quelle: reuters