The official death toll in the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster has crossed 10,000 in India, according to a status report released Saturday by the Indian Home Ministry.

The report said 10,012 people have been confirmed dead and 5, 624 others still missing. At least the disaster has left 1,205 people dead and 5,531 people missing to date in India's worst-hit Andaman and Nicobar Islands which spread over 700 kilometers in the Bay of Bengal. In Tamil Nadu, the death toll stands at 7,941.

The total numbers of the dead and missing in the remote archipelago and the southern states hit by the tsunami are likely to go up.

The ministry quoted reports from Indian missions to other tsunami-affected countries as saying that seven Indian nationals have died and 12 to 15 are reported missing in Sri Lanka, one in the Maldives, three in Thailand and two in Indonesia .

The Indian central government has completed the first stage of relief and rescue operations in the past days and the focus now shifts to restoration of infrastructure and rehabilitation in the affected areas.

Source: Xinhua