JAKARTA, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- On the third day since the powerful earthquake-tsunamis that struck some South and Southeast Asian countries, latest reports from the affected nations put the death toll to more than 48,000 in the region.

    At least 21,000 people are believed to have been killed by the earthquake and tsunamis in Indonesia, a government official said Tuesday.

    Purnomo Sidik, national disaster director at the Social AffairsMinistry, told reporters that "the latest reports we have receivedis that in Banda Aceh and its surroundings alone there are about 9,000 dead while in Meulaboh, the other hardest hit district, reports from the district chief says there are about 10,000 dead."

    He also put the death toll from other regions to "something more than 2,000."

    Sri Lanka's government said on Tuesday more than 18,700 people were confirmed dead two days after a tsunami battered the island.

    The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, which sent high waves crashing onto Sri Lanka's easternand southern shores.

    Thailand's death toll of Sunday's tsunami has raised over 1,500with more and more corpse discovered by rescue teams, the state-run Thai News Agency reported on Tuesday night.

    "A brief government announcement at 16:00 this afternoon put the number of dead at 1,516, with 8,432 more people injured," saidthe report.

    The number is expected to further rise with search and rescue still being carried on in the kingdom's six southwestern provinces.

    Rescue workers said there were still some 1,000 bodies in the worst-hit Phnagnga Province that they can not reach.

    Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra earlier told reporters that he expected the death toll to reach over 2,000.

    In India, the Indo-Asian News Service reported Tuesday that thenation's mounting human toll has crossed 7,500.

    By official estimates southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, a union territory in the south of India, accounted for some 4,500 deaths, closely followed by the Andaman and NicobarIslands in the Bay of Bengal with around 3,000 fatalities and another 2,000 missing and presumed dead.

    Hundreds of people, mainly fishermen and children, are missing in Tamil Nadu. Andhra Pradesh state, located in southeast India, has suffered 90 casualties and southern Indian state of Kerala 160.With corpses still being washed ashore, the toll is expected to rise further.

    The Maldives, which is among the countries hit by the disaster,reported 52 deaths. The elections commission announced Tuesday to postpone the nation's parliamentary elections scheduled on Friday by three weeks because of the devastating tidal waves. Enditem