Thailand: A senior garda arrives in Thailand today to review progress in the search for the two Irish people who remain missing after last December's tsunami disaster.
Det Supt John O'Driscoll will meet forensic experts in the holiday resort of Phuket in a further attempt to trace Lucy Coyle (28) from Dublin and Michael Murphy (23) from Wexford.
Irish Ambassador to Thailand Dan Mulhall will also attend the meeting with experts at the Disaster Victim Identification centre in Phuket, staffed by an international team of police officers and forensic scientists.
Det Supt O'Driscoll is bringing information provided by the families of the two missing Irish people, including dental records, fingerprints and DNA data. However no major breakthrough is expected in either of the two cases.
Det Supt O'Driscoll was part of a Garda team which spent several weeks in Thailand last month. He has been in daily contact since from Dublin with the victim identification experts. The purpose of his visit is to compare the information supplied by the families with postmortem data in Phuket.
Ms Coyle, an accountant from Killiney, Co Dublin, was staying in a beach hut in a resort on Phi-Phi Island when the tsunami hit. Mr Murphy was on Khao Lak, one of the worst affected areas. The science graduate last spoke to his family on Christmas Day.
Meanwhile, the Australian government has been described here as "very parental" because of its warning to tourists to stay away from certain parts of Thailand. At least 15 Australians were among the victims of the disaster.
Intending visitors are warned by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: "Many areas of the west coast of Thailand were hit by a large tsunami on 26 December, 2004 . . . Due to the widespread damage, Australians should not travel to the Khao Lak and Takua Pa areas of Phang Nga province or to Phi Phi Island.
"Some tourist and public services remain disrupted in the Kamala Beach area of Phuket Island. Australians travelling to this area should check that their accommodation has not been affected."
At a news conference in Phuket at the weekend, president of Thai Airways International Kanok Abhiradee said: "I would not say it was wrong but I will say the Australian government is very parental when it comes to its citizens."
Juthamas Siriwan, head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said: "Our main message is a plea to ask the tourists to come back." A tsunami warning network, including emergency text messaging and marine monitoring, would be operational by the end of the month. "We certainly don't want to repeat the same mistake again," she said.
Shortly after the news conference, news emerged of a ferry disaster in the locality caused by severe weather conditions. Ten people, all of them believed to be Thai nationals, were drowned when a boat crammed with passengers capsized in a heavy thunderstorm at Koh Yao Noi, east of Phuket. Two of the dead were children.