Canadian Premier tours Thailand

Canadian Premier tours Thailand

THAILAND: Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin lit candles at the site of a Buddhist temple leveled by Asia's tsunami in the Thai resort of Phuket to honor victims of the disaster on Sunday.

He also toured the area and met with officials to learn more about what his country can do to help Thailand recover.

Martin, at the start of an Asian tour that also will take him to tsunami victims Sri Lanka and India, met with Canadian and Thai volunteers at Phuket City Hall, a central point for people looking for loved ones that contains photos of many of the 3,000 people who remain missing in Thailand after the Dec. 26 catastrophe.

The prime minister appeared to become emotional while looking at the photos, his eyes welling with tears. He and his wife, Sheila Martin, stopped at one photo of two Canadian-Chinese people who had been staying at a hotel in the devastated resort of Khao Lak to the north.

Martin asked if the pair was still missing, and officials said they were. Asked for his reaction to the photo collection, he said: "It very much brings the disaster home."

Six Canadians were killed and about 300 remain unaccounted for from the tragedy, which took more than 162,000 lives in nearly a dozen countries. -- AFP