Doctors and nurses at Phanom Hospital, which has 30 beds, were treating a steady stream of injured people this afternoon, sending the more seriously hurt onto Krabi Town for treatment. There is still no clarity on the scale of the damage. Authorities said the rushing water that was attributed to a dam burst may have been part of a controlled release yesterday.


AT LEAST 200 people are missing after a dam burst in Krabi sent water rushing down a gorge, triggering landslips, charity foundation workers from Phuket at the scene confirmed today.

Earlier reports said as many as eight villages and up to 1000 people may be unaccounted for.

Cellphone networks are down around the disaster zone at Khao Phanom, making radio the only means of communication.

Kusoldharm Foundation volunteers from Phuket are among emergency rescue workers battling still-rising flood waters to reach the region, in hilly terrain.

The Foundation of the National Disaster Warning Council of Thailand confirmed on its website that the dam burst yesterday, leaving 200 missing.

It is not clear as yet whether the initial dam burst and landslip has been followed by further landslips, prompting today's fresh report that up to 1000 could be unaccounted for.

Floods up to two metres deep have made parts of Krabi impassable, with the road to the airport near Krabi Town blocked for a time yesterday.

At least one body has been recovered, reports said. Phuketwan journalists approaching Khao Phanom said they were told that a woman with a broken back, who was eight months pregnant, had been carried out for treatment.

The Director of the Chao Fa Centre on Krabi, which oversees sea rescues for the region, confirmed the dam burst and landslips in the subdistrict of Nahkhao and said members of his staff had been sent to help with rescue work.

Staff with small rubber boats suitable for flood rescue and relief work had also been sent today by the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Regional Centre on Phuket.

Unprecedented quantities of rain have fallen over Krabi, Phuket and the Andaman region in the past week. Rain was still falling today.

The toll in flooding caused by a monsoon depression over central-south Thailand rose to 11 dead today, with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva planning a visit to the waterlogged province of Nakkorn Si Thammarat.

-Additional reporting by Pathomporn Kaenkrachang