Father fears son abducted in tsunami chaos

STOCKHOLM - A Swedish father fears his 12-year-old son may have been kidnapped by a European man from a Thai hospital in the tsunami's chaotic aftermath.

The incident, which is being taken seriously by Swedish and Thai police, is one of a rash of suspected or proven criminal incidents which contrast grimly with the global outpouring of sympathy and aid.

In Sweden, the European country hit hardest by the catastrophe, the homes of some of the 2900 Swedes who are missing, believed killed, have been targeted by burglars.

Swedish police say they have no firm proof that Kristian Walker, a Swedish boy of partly American parentage, survived the wall of water that struck Khao Lak.

But they say they are taking seriously reports that he was seen in a hospital on two occasions in the days after the tsunami with an unidentified, middle-aged European man.

Seven Swedish police officers have travelled to Thailand to help local police investigate this and other reports of possible attempts to abduct children orphaned by the disaster.

Thailand is trying to crack down on sex tourism by Western paedophiles.

Three people - two doctors and a nurse - told Kristian's American grandfather, Daniel Walker, 74, they had seen the boy in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. Daniel and his Swedish son, Dan Walker, 45, flew to Thailand after the disaster and have found Dan's other children, David, 14, and Anna, 7.

The three children had gone on holiday with their mother - Dan's estranged wife - Madeleine, 45, and her boyfriend, Carl-Axel von Platen. The adult couple are missing, believed dead.

The two children have returned to Sweden with Dan Walker while his father continues the search.

Mr Walker snr showed photographs of Kristian to medical staff at a hospital near the disaster zone.

Dr Kampongsree Somprutthana said she was sure she had seen the boy - badly bruised but otherwise unharmed - on two separate days after the catastrophe.

"He was here," she told the Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen. "He was with a middle-aged man in a red shirt, who looked European."

Another doctor and a nurse were also convinced they had seen Kristian.

Swedish authorities will not name the victims of the tsunami for fear their houses will be robbed, as happened during the 1994 Estonian ferry disaster.

- INDEPENDENT