Acknowledging that the foreign ministry's crisis team had not been prepared to handle a catastrophe the size of the Indian Ocean tsunami, which left 543 Swedes dead, Freivalds said "this slowed our response and led to people suffering more."

In a report presented in December, a government-appointed commission lambasted authorities for "lacking organization to handle serious crises" such as the December 26 Asian tsunami catastrophe.

As many as 20,000 Swedes were vacationing in Southeast Asia at the time of the Indian Ocean tsunami, most of them in Thailand.

In the first days after the disaster the government failed to realize the scope of the tragedy and did not offer injured Swedes medical care, transport home or other assistance.

The report said Prime Minister Goeran Persson, who was also scheduled to testify on Thursday, had the ultimate responsibility for his administration's shortcomings, but Freivalds received the harshest criticism.

She has been slammed for going to the theater on the evening of December 26 as reports emerged of thousands of missing Swedes in the areas hit by the tsunami, and for saying that she was unaware that Thailand was a popular travel destination for Swedes.

On Thursday, she insisted that "I was not able to list which (tourist destination) was the biggest, but I knew that (Thailand) was a big one."

The hearings, aimed at getting to the bottom of why the government failed to react quickly and decisively to the crisis, began with testimonies from lower-level government officials in late January and moved on to the government minister level this week.

Health Minister Ylva Johansson, International Development Aid Minister Carin Jaemtin and Defense Minister Leni Bjoerklund appeared on Monday and Tuesday.