The total number of Western tourists killed in Thailand by the Indian Ocean tsunami will be over 3,300 and could exceed 4,600, the Swedish government said on Saturday. Hans Dahlgren, state secretary at the foreign ministry, said 30 freezer containers, each with a capacity to store 110 bodies, were already in place, alleviating concerns back home that victims might be cremated before identification. "The containers in place will not be enough," Dahlgren told a news conference, adding a dozen more containers were on their way from Sweden to the region. "Whether that will be enough I don't dare to say," he said. Thailand's national disaster centre has said at least 2,402 of the nearly 4,800 people so far found dead are foreigners. Over 3,500 Swedes are still missing, according to government figures, which Dahlgren said were being double-checked. Swedish forensic experts sent to Thailand to identify dead citizens are cooperating with teams from 18 other countries, Dahlgren said. Sweden is cooperating particularly closely with Nordic neighbours Norway and Denmark in the storage of bodies in the containers, he said. Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland are expected to be among European countries with the most deaths caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami. Sweden has 59 confirmed dead, of which 58 were in Thailand, but fears the number might exceed 1,000. Twenty-one Norwegians, 14 Finns and seven Danes are also dead.
