Twelve bodies have been recovered, one person is still missing and ten others have been injured in mud slides in nine villages in Phuket’s Mueang district, following several days of heavy rain.
Most of the casualties were in Karon sub-district, where 114 houses were damaged, affecting more than 380 people.
The Phuket provincial administration has declared the nine villages in Chalong, Rawai and Karon sub-districts public disaster zones, to facilitate the provision of relief supplies and deployment of manpower to help those affected.
A sniffer dog, Sandy, has been deployed to help rescue teams in their search for survivors, and those who did not, in Patak Soi 2, Karon sub-district, which was hardest hit by mud slide.
The 12 recovered bodies are yet to be identified, but emergency workers say that most of the victims were Myanmar nationals, with one or two believed to be Russian.
Caretaker Deputy Interior Minister Chada Thaised visited affected villagers yesterday, at a relief centre at Kata Temple, along with Governor Sophon Suwannarat. They instructed officials to investigate the cause of the mud slide.
Phuket was struck by heavy flooding and mud slides two months ago, prompting then Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to visit the province in August and hold discussions with relevant agencies about ways to prevent the mud slides.
Phichit Sombatmak, director-general of the Mineral Resources Department, explained that the topography of Phuket is mostly steep mountains with narrow valleys between them, which are vulnerable to mud slides whenever there is continuous heavy rain.
He also blamed the clearing of forest for land development as another cause of runoffs from the mountains, resulting in mud slides.
