The death toll of Hong Kong tsunami victims may rise to eight, an official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said in Hong Kong on January 3.

Deputy Secretary for Security Michael Wong said that in the past 24 hours two more Hong Kong residents were confirmed dead.

Wong said the government will further verify the fact. If confirmed, the death toll of Hong Kong tsunami victims would rise to eight.

Six Hong Kong men were previously reported to have died in the tsunami in the Thai resort of Phuket.

He said by 12:00 Monday, 74 Hong Kong residents were reported to have lost contact with their families in Hong Kong, 14 more than the number of 60 reported Sunday. Among the missing ones, 41 were tourists to Thailand, two to Malaysia, and 11 to Indonesia.

Wong said the increased number of lost persons was due to more accurate confirmation in the past day.

According to the spokesman for the education authority, one teacher and eight students were reported lost contact Monday. Theyare in the government list of lost Hong Kong residents.

Wong said the government supporting team is still in Thailand providing aid to Hong Kong people there. The government has contacted with relatives of lost people to provide DNA samples for the corpse test. Some families have agreed to provide DNA samples and some are still considering the measure, he said.

Source: Xinhua