Grim hunt for missing Kiwis

The families of scores of New Zealanders missing across Asia have been warned to brace for even more difficult days ahead.

Seventy-four New Zealanders remain unaccounted for in Thailand's worst-hit beach resorts - earlier the total was given as 53 - and there are reports of others lost in Sri Lanka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said last night the risk of more New Zealand deaths was increasing as each day passed.

One New Zealander, Leone Cosens, has been confirmed killed in Thailand, and there are unconfirmed reports that two others are dead.

At a press conference in Phuket last night, New Zealand's deputy ambassador to Bangkok, Sarah Craig, said only one New Zealander remained in hospital in Phuket. But in Wellington, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs put the total for Thailand at 11.

The NZ embassy staff in Phuket initially saw between 10 and 20 New Zealanders at a crisis centre in the town hall. About 15 were survivors wanting help, others asked after their loved ones. Now a new phase is beginning with the arrival today of a New Zealand forensic team.

Craig said because there had been so many deaths, not all bodies could be refrigerated and time was running out for people to be identified by photographs. Now it would have to be achieved by DNA. She conceded some bodies may never be found.

"The scale of the tragedy is such that a number of bodies washed out to sea, so they may never be washed up on the beach."

Later Mr Goff said he spoke to Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, who told him that Aceh authorities were struggling to cope. Key officials in the local government had perished and others were reeling from the loss of family members.

Several New Zealanders are in hospital in Bangkok, Phuket or Krabi.

They include a man plucked from the sea and hauled on to debris by a Canadian pair. In Sri Lanka, one New Zealander escaped a bus that was washed away and a family visiting relatives saw their brother's home destroyed.

One travel company told the Herald yesterday it had about 30 clients unaccounted for, mainly in Thailand.

Tracking the New Zealanders

* New Zealand officials have 787 people registered on their Thailand database; 440 are confirmed safe. One is dead and two are feared dead.

* Twelve remain in hospital. Five others have been discharged after treatment.

* Fifty-three people known to have been in the worst-hit beach resorts have not been found.

* About 280 others are unaccounted for across Thailand.

* One New Zealander has been hospitalised in Chennai, India.

* At least two are believed missing in Sri Lanka and one in the Andaman Islands.