PHANG-NGA, Dec 26 – Tsunami memorial services have been held in Thai provinces hit by the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.
On the 15th anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, families of the victims joined multi-faith memorial services in the provinces on the Andaman Sea coast on Thursday, in remembrance of over 5,300 people killed in Thailand.
At the Tsunami Memorial Park in Ban Nam Khem fishing village in Phang-nga province, the hardest-hit community in Thailand, a remembrance service was held with religious rites dedicated to those who perished.
An official conveyed a statement by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha marking the tsunami anniversary which is also observed as a national disaster prevention day.
In Phuket, locals and foreigners attended a religious ceremony at Mai Khao cemetery. They laid flowers and wreaths to honor the victims from 45 countries on a tsunami memorial wall.
Residents, tourists and local officials gathered at Swordfish Sculpture for a remembrance ceremony on Phi Phi Island, Krabi province, where 722 people were killed in the deadly tsunami.
The Boxing Day Tsunami ravaged six provinces in southern Thailand and claimed, in total, an estimated 230,000 to 280,000 lives across the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004.
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