At least 5,000 European tourists, including 600 Italians, are still missing after Sunday's earthquake-drive tidal waves in Southeast Asia, Italian news ency ANSA reported Thursday.

The thousands of missing, who were on vacation in areas where the tsunamis struck, include 1,500 Swedes, 1,000 Germans, 930 Norwegians, 600 Italians, 219 Danes, 200 Finns and 200 Czechs, said the report.

Among them, a total of 212 were officially confirmed dead.

As the hope for finding them alive is dwindling by the hour, all countries had warned their people to prepare for the worst.

Source: Xinhua