Flood death toll in southern Thailand rises to 52

Three weeks of flooding in southern Thailand have left 52 people dead and thousands stranded without provisions in remote areas where rescue teams have not reached, officials said Thursday. Unrelenting rains began early last month and have flooded most of the southern region since mid-November, affecting nine of the country's 14 southern provinces. Fifty-two people have been killed, said Pensri Kheawkumpai, a disaster official in Nakorn Srithammarat.

A local government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be seen as criticizing the central government, said tens of thousands of people were stranded without necessary supplies. "Food and water are running out for thousands of families who live in remote areas that the rescue team have not yet reached," the official said, reports the AP. I.L.