More Australians die in Thailand than in any other foreign country
PHUKET: Figures released by the Department of Foreign Affairs for the period 2006 to 2011 show 430 Australian citizens died while in Thailand.
Tuesday 31 July 2012, 01:27PM
Of those, 163 died of illness, 69 in accidents, and 66 of natural causes, while the cause of death was unknown or unlisted in 132 cases, ninemsn reported.
Vietnam was the country with the second highest number of deaths with 300 and Greece had the third highest with 284.
Most deaths in Vietnam were from illness (151) while the majority in Greece were from natural causes (197).
A spokeswoman from DFAT said there were as many as 96,000 Australians living in or visiting Greece last year.
“The numbers of natural deaths need to be viewed in that context,” she said.
Southeast Asia has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this year following several tourists’ deaths in Laos, and the stabbing murder of Perth travel agent Michelle Smith in Phuket, ninemsn reported.
According to the statistics, Laos makes up only a small percentage of overseas travel deaths, with 56 deaths listed in the country between 2006 and 2011.
Over the same period a total of 4,552 Australians died in overseas locations.
A DFAT spokeswoman said that in cases where the data could potentially identify a specific person and breach the Privacy act, the cause of death was listed as “other”.
