Five New Zealanders feared dead with toll likely to rise

When you phone them, they pick up the phone in mere seconds, hope in their voices - but the hope is fading.

They are the dozens of Kiwi families waiting for word from loved ones who have disappeared in Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.

This morning, a week after the tsunami, five Kiwis are believed dead and grave fears are held for 23 more. Foreign Affairs said no further updates on New Zealand fatalities would be available until Monday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff last night told the Herald on Sunday the body of a New Zealand man in Thailand had been photographically identified by a friend. "It's most likely that will be accurate but we haven't been able to confirm all the details yet."

It was the same day the body of another man, in his 30s, was returned to his Thai wife and family in Krabi for cremation, and a day after New Zealander Leone Cosens was cremated in Phuket.

New Zealand's Operation Phuket forensic team yesterday began work in Phang Nga, checking teeth and identifying features, taking DNA samples from bodies.

Mr Goff announced he would fly to Phuket in the next few days, while Prime Minister Helen Clark has cut short a Norway holiday to return to New Zealand.

The parents of Andrew and Belinda Welch are planning joint memorial services later this month for the Takapuna couple who are thought to have died together.

"They were as one," said Belinda's father John Croft. "There's still a .01 per cent chance that they still are alive. It's unrealistic to think that, but it is a possibility."

In Christchurch, a worried George Whitehouse is checking his email every 10 minutes: he believes his son Baydon spent Christmas in Phuket. Baydon teaches English in Taiwan, but pops over to Phuket "all the time", with his Chinese girlfriend. "He normally pops over for Christmas. I'm not absolutely sure."

Canadian Jerry Loewen, 36, spent the past year in Auckland before moving to his girlfriend Jenny's home in Khao Lak, one of Thailand's worst-hit resorts.

He had promised to help his friend Denise Young set up her new home in Brisbane in a few weeks - now she has little hope of ever seeing again.

"It took at least two days for any assistance to get to Khao Lak - it was absolutely devastated. He would have been in bed that morning and the waves would have just rolled over him. I think he's gone," she says.

In Dunedin, Tracy Creighton's children have still not heard from their dad, Clive Creighton, and his friend Rodney Kirk.

"It's just the big unknown - it's such a daunting feeling," she says. But deep inside me, I feel sure he'll be OK - I just hope he doesn't call my bluff on that."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY, HERALD STAFF