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For 45 Police officers who joined the government contingent sent to Phuket to help Hong Kong residents hit by the tsunami disaster, their mission has provided them with valuable and practical experience.

Before volunteering to join the contingent with five other fellow officers, the 45 officers - comprising constables, sergeants and inspectorate officers - were attending the Standard Criminal Investigation Course at Police Training School. One element of the course is verification of disaster victims' identities, so they had gained practical experience in Thailand in this aspect, apart from classroom theories, according to leader of the 50-member taskforce, Chief Superintendent Wong Pak-nin from Crime Headquarters.

Mr Wong stressed that every member of the taskforce had also gained valuable and useful experience. "It was the first time we've carried out such a large scale investigation work outside Hong Kong to locate missing Hong Kong people. From the point of learning, there were immense benefits for everyone because you were working in a totally strange environment, where you've no judicial powers. So members were very careful with what they did. In fact we kept a low profile to comply with rules or regulations," explained Mr Wong.

Mr Wong has no doubt that his team has accomplished its mission - to locate missing Hong Kong people and help those stranded in Thailand and send related information back to Hong Kong for analysis; keep close liaison with the Thai authorities, especially the Thai Police, for finding information on the whereabouts of Hong Kong people; and to assist the Thai Police in ascertaining the identities of the Hong Kong people killed in the disaster. Liaison was also later extended to the Interpol through Force Liaison Officer in Bangkok, Chief Inspector Albert Ho Wai-hong.

On arrival in Phuket, it was very sad and upsetting for the taskforce to come face to face with the aftermath of a major disaster - the extent of devastation, dead bodies everywhere, miseries of the survivors and grieving relatives looking for their loved ones lost in the tragedy. Despite these, the taskforce members realised they had a very important job and had to do it quickly and effectively.

And their jobs were by no means easy, with members starting early in the morning and finishing late at night. "Very often members didn't have their dinner until after 11 pm. Nobody really knew when he or she could call it a day!" Mr Wong noted.

A day's work started as soon as members had made the necessary preparations and attended briefings. And everyday getting to destinations usually took three or four hours' drive.

Mr Wong pointed out that besides working in a very unpleasant environment, members also had to put up with the difficulties posed by the vast area they had to cover and lack of street guides to reach remote destinations. "Despite all these tremendous odds, my men and women have done their best, with devotion and conscientiousness, determination and zeal. I couldn't expect more!" said Mr Wong.

Members had searched all the beaches on the west of Phuket and visited 250 hotels and six hospitals there. A team of some 20 members had also gone to Bangkok to check a total of 29 hospitals.

Some members had even extended their search to far-flung stricken areas north of Phuket - Phang Nga and Khoa Lak.

It was members' painstaking search at the Sofitel Magic Lagoon Resort and Spa in Khoa Lak that has greatly impressed Mr Wong.

He recalled: "We had not missed every lead and every piece of information that would help our jobs. So when a Hong Kong resident had told us that the resort was a favourable spot with Hong Kong tourists, the whole taskforce was mobilised for immediate actions.

"Before being deluged and damaged by the tsunamis, the resort had more than 300 rooms. What we saw on arrival was rubble, debris and mud everywhere. You can imagine how much effort my members had put in searching every room under such circumstances, and eventually picking up in 23 rooms leads indicating that they had been occupied by Hong Kong people, such as identity cards, passports, re-entry permits, Octopus cards, mobile phones, business cards and even plastic holders for medicine prescribed by Hong Kong doctors.

"After the job, I could see members have a mixed feeling - satisfaction over what they had found but sadness over the fates of the occupants."

In total, the taskforce had found from hotels information about 560 Hong Kong people, and had forwarded on the spot the information to the Major Incident Investigation & Disaster Support System for analysis and matching.

After the taskforce had returned home, Mr Wong presided over a wash-up meeting on January 10, with members reviewing and evaluating their operations in Thailand, identifying room for improvements, and coming up with suggestions for similar overseas missions in terms of preparation, protective gear and equipment, etc.

"I'll pass the suggestions to the relevant branches for their consideration, but I hope we'll not have to put the suggestions to the test!" Mr Wong concluded.

One of the taskforce members, Woman Senior Inspector Jackie Tam Wing-sze from Commercial Crime Bureau told OffBeat: "The tsunami incident is the most tragic one that I have witnessed, but it was very meaningful for me to have tried my best to help Hong Kong people affected by the incident. This is really a very valuable and unforgettable experience."

"Like everyone in the taskforce, the incident has made me feel how vulnerable life is, and I have to treasure all the persons around me!" she added.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), Mr Michael Smith, has written to Commissioner of Police Mr Lee Ming-kwai to thank the taskforce for providing "an excellent service in very difficult and challenging circumstances" to a small HSBC team despatched to Phuket to help co-ordinate the search and repatriation of HSBC staff and their relatives and friends.

"I thought you would be interested in hearing that our team members were very complimentary about the way your officers conducted themselves and the assistance they received from them. They stated that the co-ordination between the Hong Kong Police and Hong Kong Immigration Department was excellent and that they could not have been more helpful or considerate", Mr Smith informed the Commissioner in his letter.

Police Report No.7

Issued by PPRB

End/1430hrs, Tuesday, January 25, 2005 (VW/PT)