LONDON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Britain's Foreign Office apologized Thursday for diplomats' poor behavior in helping citizens caught in the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami in Indonesia.
The apology came as a result of an investigation by the National Audit Office, which interviewed 116 people about their experiences in the disaster that killed 300,000 people, including 150 Britons.
Among the complaints was one that said a group of vacationing consular officials arranged for their own evacuation and left several countrymen behind at a resort. Another family said while returning home, they were asked why their passports were wet, The Times of London reported.
In response to the audit's condemnation, a Foreign Office minister said work was under way to improve the response to future disasters.
"The sheer scale of the 2004 tsunami meant that no organization was able to respond as it wanted. As a result, some U.K. families and individuals did not get the support they could have expected to receive," the official said.
