¡¡  COLOMBO, Jan. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Sri Lankan officials said Wednesday that they were still in the process of reconciling the death toll after one month of the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

    Tilak Ranaviraja, the secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order, told reporters that only 22,000 people had been confirmed dead and another 17,000 is still missing.

    Ranaviraja earlier in the month announced that the death toll had exceeded 38,000.

    Deadly tsunami waves struck Sri Lanka on Dec. 26, 2004 and the early estimates suggested that over 30,000 people were killed in the disaster.

    "We have gone with the police records and there are 22,000 confirmed deaths," Ranaviraja said.

    It is believed that those counted as missing have actually fallen victim and are among the 22,000 body count. Enditem