Race against time to identify hundreds

The southern kingdom's tropical heat, the lack of sufficient medical equipment or refrigeration facilities, and the sheer number of bodies brought to gathering points is worsening the problem.

"We are facing difficulties to separate or identify victims as of now," Thailand's top rescue official Sunthorn Riewluang told AFP.

"We have to use DNA records and even physical appearance -- it's hard to do as bodies are decaying and swollen."

Several hundred of the dead, many in an advanced state of decomposition, have been seen laid out unclaimed and unidentified after the disaster in Thailand, where 1,574 people, mostly foreigners, are confirmed to have died.

At virtually all hours, scores of villagers and foreign tourists, often choked with emotion, have stepped carefully through rows of partially covered corpses in Phang Nga province's hard-hit town of Khao Lak.

They inspect a bloated face or piece of jewellery to see if their loved ones have perished.

Top forensic scientist Pornthip Rojanasunan said rescuers were encountering major problems as more bodies were recovered.

The health ministry has sent 20 refrigerated containers to preserve corpses pending identification. But body bags and coffins were in short supply, with many of the dead wrapped only in sheets or not at all.