India's Andamans count the dead as toll nears 7,500 dead or missing

India's Andamans count the dead as toll nears 7,500 dead or missing

India's Andamans count the dead as toll nears 7,500 dead or missing
1 hour, 52 minutes ago

PORT BLAIR, India (AFP) - Rescuers have found 66 more bodies on the tsunami-ravaged Andaman islands as India's military scaled down its sea search for people swept away by the giant waves last month, officials said.
The total number of bodies disposed off as of today is 1,903 and those still listed as missing is 5,551,' Andaman's federal administrator Ram Kapse told AFP in the territory's capital Port Blair.
Officials here decline to list people missing since the December 26 disaster as presumed dead, saying it would have legal implications such as granting compensation and other benefits to bereaved families.
Lieutenant General Aditya Singh, supervising the mammoth relief and rehabilitation programme in the Andamans, said the missing thousands should be declared dead.
'It is very unlikely that people will come back 26 days after the tsunamis struck, especially in this geographical condition where the islands are surrounded by deep sea,' the general told AFP. "