Police forced to name almost 600 Swedes missing in tsunami
Swedish police, under court order, made public today its list of nearly 600 Swedes who were reported missing or killed in the aftermath of the tsunamis that struck southern Asia.
The supreme court ruled in favour of Swedish news agency TT, which had requested that the names and other information on the list be made public.
The list contains the names of 565 people, of whom 43 have been positively identified as dead. Initially, more than 1,900 Swedes were thought to be missing in the aftermath of the deadly tsunamis that have claimed at least 163,000 lives.
Initially, police had refused to release the names, citing privacy concerns for the victims’ relatives and loved ones who could be subjected to unwanted media attention.
However, the Supreme Administrative Court said that ”information that a person was at a popular Swedish vacation resort during the Christmas holiday and was then affected by a natural disaster is not invasive.”
The list, including names, ages, addresses and national identity numbers of those missing and confirmed dead from the tidal wave, was released at 8am (7am Irish time).
