Holiday flights to the Southern Thai island destination of Phuket and to Sri Lanka have been cancelled for the time being. Normal route flights to Bangkok are unaffected.
Finns holidaying in Thailand will be brought out as far as is possible within the framework of the normal schedules.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs crisis hotline at 010-802266 has been set up to answer relatives’ enquiries about the fate of Finns currently believed to be in the area hit by Sunday’s tidal waves. On Monday morning the phones will be manned from 8 a.m. On Sunday the lines were badly clogged with worried callers.
Mobile phone connections to Thailand and Sri Lanka have also been hit by the disaster.
Thailand in particular is a very popular winter holiday destination among Europeans and others, with tens of thousands likely to be in the country at this time of year.
The Internet pages and phone banks of travel agencies and tour operators are also serving Finns worried about relatives in the area.
One of the holiday trips that will now not take place is the somewhat controversial visit by Finland’s Minister of Culture Tanja Karpela to Amritapuri in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Karpela had planned to visit the ashram of Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (also known as as Amma or "Mother"), but the flood waters engulfed the area and those at the ashram were evacuated in the course of Sunday.
Karpela’s visit had already drawn fire from some quarters in Finland, who felt it was unsuitable that in an ostensibly Lutheran country the minister whose portfolio includes religious affairs should be a prominent visitor to a Hindu guru or spiritual master.
