The World Sends Condolences to Virgina Tech

WASHINGTON (AP) - April 18, 2007 -- Foreign leaders and governments have reacted to the Virginia Tech massacre with the greatest outpouring of international sympathy for the American people since Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 attacks.

The State Department had logged more than 20 formal letters and other statements of condolence from other countries as of Wednesday morning. That included one from Iran and three from South Korea, where the student responsible for the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was born.

"We haven't seen this kind of sympathy and support since Hurricane Katrina and 9/11," said Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman.

Nearly 3,000 people from 90 nations were killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Almost 1,700 people died when Katrina barreled through Gulf states in August 2005.

More than 100 condolence calls came in after each, he said.

According to the department, heads of state and governments who have offered their sympathy for the Virginia Tech shootings include: -Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. -French President Jacques Chirac. -Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. -Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. -Mauritanian President-elect Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. -Mexican President Felipe Calderon. -Moroccan King Mohammed VI. -Peruvian President Alan Garcia. -South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun.

In addition, officials and diplomats from Canada, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, South Korea, Suriname, Thailand and Venezuela have issued statements of condolence, the department said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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