Jet Li Missing After Tsunami/Earthquake (NOW REPORTED FOUND) (1 Viewer)

[Edwin_H]

According to a report over at AICN, Jet Li was vacationing in the area where the terrible earthquake and tsunamis hit several days ago. He is on the list of missing as no one has been able to get in touch with him since it happened. Here's hoping he's ok.

-E

 

[Ernest Rister]

I'll wait until I hear a legit news source reporting this before I get concerned.

 

[Edwin_H]

A more legit news source for those in doubt:

Taiwanese tv-station TVBS said Li was on holiday in the Maldives islands with his wife and children. His manager tried to get in contact with Li after the tsunami's destroyed most of those islands but can't get hold of him.

 

[brentl]

With 20 000 other people dead I'm not too worried about 1 actor!

Brent

 

[Ernest Rister]

Nothing from AP or Reuters yet. I consider this a rumour until I hear it from a legit news source.

 

[Malcolm R]

What brentl said. The fact that he's something of a celebrity doesn't make me any more concerned about him over the many others who are still missing.

 

[teapot2001]

The fact that he's a celebrity means that most people know him more than others missing in the devastation. Usually, the better you know someone, the more worried you'd be.

~T

 

[todd s]

My brother and his wife went to the Maldives last year. He said the islands are not much higher than sea level. His hotel room was only feet from the ocean. He can only imagine how bad it is there. :frowning:

 

[Ushabye]

As human beings we all empathise with the many who are suffering right now, and also as human beings to have a face and a personality to one of those does not lesson our sympathy for the rest.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Reuters news story on the impact to the Maldives. No mention of Jet Li yet.

------------

COLOMBO (Reuters) - The Maldives said on Monday 52 people, including two British tourists, had drowned in tsunami waves that struck the Indian Ocean archipelago on Sunday, and has evacuated six of its 200 inhabited islands completely.

Close to 70 people are still missing in the beach paradise as search operations continued into the night, and officials said they feared the death toll could rise dramatically.

The Maldives, whose white sand beaches and world class scuba diving are a magnet for honeymooners and well-heeled tourists from around the globe, declared a state of emergency on Sunday after tsunami waves deluged the remote island cluster and flooded two-thirds of the capital Male.

"Over fifty people are dead, about 70 people are still missing and thousands have been left homeless," President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom told the BBC's World Service.

"Communications with most of the country have now been restored, but still some islands are without telecommunications," he added. "We have a lot of difficulties at the moment because our resources are quite limited, so sending help to islands have been a problem."

Gayoom has spent much of his 26 years in power warning of the dangers that global warming, erosion and shifting weather patterns pose to low-lying island nations like his own.

The chain of 1,200 tiny palm-fringed coral islands dotted across 500 miles off the toe of India lies just a few feet above sea level.

The country's international airport was closed down on Sunday as tsunami waves wreaked havoc but was reopened after water levels receded.

Male, which is 1.25 miles long and half a mile wide and home to 75,000 people, is bursting at the seams.

The island capital's streets of white-washed houses are very cramped and areas of communal open space sparse for residents -- so much so that the government is building a brand new island from scratch as an overflow.

Most of the Maldives' 300,000 mostly Sunni Muslim people are involved in the tourist industry, the nation's economic backbone.

The Maldives' 200 inhabited islands are home on average to just a few hundred people or house luxury tourist resorts which offer some of South Asia's most expensive holiday accommodation.

"Four resorts have been badly affected... we have moved about 300 tourists from badly affected resorts," Chief Government Spokesman Ahmed Shaheed said.

Elsewhere in Asia, the death toll topped 22,000 on Monday in the aftermath of the tsunami that slammed into coasts from India to Indonesia.

The tsunami came just days ahead of Dec. 31 parliamentary elections in the Maldives. It was not immediately clear if the elections would be delayed.

 

[ThomasC]

He's safe, according to the following article:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english...ent_403729.htm

 

[teapot2001]

Well said, Paul. My response was to those who seemed to want to undermine Li's disappearance just because he's an actor/celebrity. After all, this thread is about him.

For a general discussion about the tsunami/earthquake, visit this thread in After Hours Lounge:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=221040

~T

 

[Ushabye]

Thats good news. I hope that report is accurate.

 

[Ray H]

Good news about Jet. He's the only way I can get my dad into a theater.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I don’t think Edwin was implying that had Jet Li perished in the tsunami, it made it more of a tragedy than it already is. I think it just puts a face on it for people who are not directly affected (ie. lost a loved one). It was like that on September 11. I did not know anyone personally who was killed, but I knew who Barbara Olson, David Angell, and Angel Juarbe were, so it put a face on it for me.

With the death toll rising, we are bound to hear that someone famous, or near famous, has died with all the others.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I updated the thread title to reflect the latest reports.

M.

 

[teapot2001]

I read Li was injured from trying to protect his daughter from the tsunami.

~T