Rescue officials found 28 bodies at the Sairung and Prai Sawan waterfalls on Saturday and found 11 more bodies on Sunday.

A woman was still listed as missing at the Sairung Waterfall Sunday afternoon, police said.

Police said most of the bodies were found at the popular Sairung Waterfall.

Deputy Interior Minister Banyat Jansena visited the Sairung Waterfall at 11:30 am Sunday.

He said the tragedy happened out of the blue and government officials had done their best to help the victims.

The deputy interior minister said he ordered the provincial administration to consider closing the waterfalls to public access for a while pending checking whether the areas would be safe.

The flash floods occurred nearly the same time shortly after 2 pm at the Sairung Waterfall and Prai Sawan Waterfall about 4 kilometres away, both in Yan Takhao district, on Saturday.

Officials said earlier reports that tourists were also washed away at the Lamplok and Tonetae waterfalls in Palian district were simply rumours. They said no bodies were found at the Lamplok waterfall as earlier reported.

Officials said at least 20 tourists were injured.

Tourists to the waterfalls were caught off-guard by the flash floods and many could not get out of the waterways in time.

TV footage showed some families trying to stand on a rock in the middle of the stream but some of them were washed away to the shock of other tourists.

Local villagers said there were heavy rainfalls on the mountains early Saturday morning.

Sompong Khaodee, a disaster mitigation official of Trang, said tourists at the two waterfalls noticed that water turned murky at about 2 pm and suddenly the flash floods ran down toward them.

He said some 300 officials from several government agencies were rushed to the two waterfalls to rescue the stranded and injured tourists.

Rescue officials carried out the search for bodies or injured tourists until 11 pm Saturday and continued the search Sunday morning.

Officials said 27 bodies have been identified so far.

Twenty-eight bodies are being kept at the Yantakhao Hospital pending reclaims by their relatives.

The Nation