Refugees from the Asian tsunami region will not be deported back there until further notice, the Austrian Interior Ministry said on Thursday. Johannes Rauch, spokesman for Interior Minister Liese Prokop, said an order to this effect had just gone into force. However, there had been no deportations since the tsunami catastrophe of December 26, which is now known to have killed more than 200,000 people. The ban on deportations was only to the actual regions of India, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Somalia and the Maldives hit by the tidal waves. People could still be deported to the Thai capital Bangkok or most parts of India. Germany has already announced a similar halt to deportations on Wednesday, but gave a time limit of three months. The Austrian announcement said there would be no time limit "so that we can react more flexibly". On Thursday, the authorities in Vienna said there was still no contact with 106 Austrians missing in the wake of the tsunami. In Thailand and Sri Lanka the number of Austrians missing was 92. Thirteen Austrians are known to have died in the disaster.
