India yesterday spread panic along its coastline and that of neighbouring Sri Lanka after it issued false warnings of possible new tsunamis once again striking the already ravaged region.
Media reports also claimed that the first warning of Sunday's tsunami were lost in India's byzantine bureaucracy, losing precious time that could have saved thousands of lives.
Over 7,000 people officially died in the killer waves in India, a number that officials said could rise substantially as the number missing and presumed dead was put at 5,900.
Tens of thousands of coastal people, still reeling from Sunday's killer tsunami, panicked after India's defence and home ministries issued an alert to evacuate areas over a mile inland.
The warnings that were later denied by a senior minister, followed aftershocks in the Indian Ocean region, although there were no immediate signs of turbulent seas. "This [ alleged warning] has caused unnecessary panic," science minister Kapil Sibal said. "There is no question of a tsunami."
But by the time these assurances were aired on nationwide television, the damage had been done, fuelled further by rumour and recent tragic memories.
Screaming people rushed inland on foot, buses and any mode of transport they could find in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and in Port Blair, capital of the ravaged Andaman and Nicobar islands, as they headed for higher ground.
"Run, the waves are coming," shouted a policeman in Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu state whose chief minister, Ms J. Jayalalitha, added to its veracity by abandoning her visit to the region.
Prime minister Mr Manmohan Singh, due to tour the devastated areas by road, opted for a helicopter instead, giving further credence to the warning.
By mid-afternoon, the entire historic church town of Valainkani in Tamil Nadu was deserted as even police were seen leaving their posts and heading inland.
The lieutenant-governor of the badly ravaged Andaman and Nicobar Islands, along with his family, dashed for higher ground in their official cars in Port Blair, accompanied by the deafening wail of sirens.
This prompted terrified locals to panic, similarly causing a stampede and traffic jams across the small town.
Officials said that apart from a few isolated areas, virtually the entire coastline of southern Kerala state was deserted with people fleeing to the safety of elevated spots.
Thousands of terrified Sri Lankans too fled miles inland after hearing reports that a new tsunami was on its way.
At a lagoon near Arugam Bay on the island's eastern coast, locals jumped off a naval ship ferrying aid and waded to the beaches as rumours of new giant waves spread through the already devastated community.
Meanwhile, the Indian Express said that the Indian Air Force headquarters in New Delhi was warned that its high security base on the remote Car Nicobar Island close to the tsunami's epicentre in Aceh in Indonesia had been flooded some two hours before the tidal waves hit the mainland coast hundreds of miles away.
"At 7.30 a.m. [ local time] we were informed about a massive earthquake near Andamans and Nicobar [ islands]," the chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy told the daily.
But communication with the island's links went down and the last message from the Car Nicobar base was that the island was sinking and there was water all over, ACM Krishnaswamy added.