British child among tsunami missing
A tsunami has hit the South Pacific killing at least 100 people
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By Lewis Bazley. |  |
Wednesday, 30, Sep 2009 04:32
By Sarah Garrod.
A tsunami has hit the South Pacific killing at least 100 people, with a British child missing and presumed dead, the Foreign Office have confirmed.
The earthquake which caused the tsunami was believed to have reached 8.3-magnitude, generating a 4.5m wave.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman told inthenews.co.uk: "A British child is missing and presumed dead in Samoa. We are offering consular assistance in the area to the families affected by the tsunami."
Scores are now feared dead after the wave swept over Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Residents of the islands fled to higher ground, but eyewitness reports said local hospitals were inundated with bodies of the dead.
Reports from officials in Samoa said at least 65 were left dead, while 20 were killed in American Samoa and at least six in Tonga.
Whole villages have been destroyed in the tsunami's wake, with a general warning issued to the wider Pacific being cancelled after the wave died down. US president Barack Obama has also declared a major disaster in American Samoa.
A statement from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) said: "Small tsunami waves from this earthquake continue to cross the Hawaiian islands.
"While these waves are not expected to cause any significant coastal flooding they can produce small changes of sea level at the coast and strong or unusual currents that can be a hazard to swimmers, boaters and beachgoers.
"The first wave is not often the largest."
Reports published on the micro-blogging site Twitter claim a six-year-old Australian girl could be among the dead, as well as a two-year-old British child reported missing.