Sweden said yesterday more than 1,000 Swedes may have been killed in the Asian tsunami, the worst death toll for any foreign country.

Some 5,000 foreign tourists, mostly Europeans, were still missing four days after the wall of water hit coasts and devastated beach resorts round the Indian Ocean. Germany said more than 1,000 of its citizens were still missing.

As relatives combed Asian beaches in search of missing loved ones and police tried to identify the dead, newspapers, politicians and people across Scandinavia fumed at what they said was the slow response of their governments to the crisis.

Flags were to fly at half-mast in Sweden, Norway and Finland tomorrow while New Year's Eve events were being toned down.

"It is clear to everyone that the number of casualties will be in the hundreds. In the worst case the number could rise over 1,000," said Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. "Sweden is a small country and it is a huge number of dead." Forty-four had been confirmed killed, up from six, he said.

A Swedish Foreign Ministry official said the first bodies might be brought back this weekend. As Sweden lacked coffins, it would appeal to UN agencies for more, the official said.

Among foreign states, Sweden has feared being hardest hit as its people have flocked for years to Thailand to escape long, cold winters.

Officials raised the figure of Swedish missing to 2,500 from 1,500. More than 120,000 people in Indonesia, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other countries as far away as Africa have been listed as killed.

Tourists from Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea were also among the dead. Nearly 700 Italians, 430 Norwegians, 419 Danes, 263 Finns, 200 Czechs and 294 Singaporean tourists are among those reported missing.