Tsunami family's long search ends

Michelle Bond has searched tirelessly for her brother's body, which the family is considering bringing back to New Zealand. Picture / Brett Phibbs

A family's agonising wait is over after the news that the body of Stephen Bond has been discovered among the victims of the Asian tsunami.

The body of Mr Bond, a 46-year-old Christchurch man, has been identified in Thailand through dental DNA.

Mr Bond and his Thai wife, Janjira, were holidaying near Khao Lak with their children when the tsunami struck.

Janjira is still missing but their children, sons Joshua, nine, and Andrew, seven, and his wife's teenage daughter, Thanjira, survived.

Mr Bond and his wife were probably in a hotel restaurant when the tsunami struck, while their children were in their room.

One boy survived by clinging to a buoyant coconut while the other was grabbed by a man clinging to a building. Neither boy was seriously injured. Mr Bond's sister, Michelle, searched tirelessly for his body in the tsunami-devastated region.

Ms Bond, who lives in Taiwan, spent days at a temple holding thousands of corpses. On a second visit she found his car, which had been dug out of the sand.

When the Herald last spoke to her earlier this month, she had been making plans to go back for a third time. Her dream was to wash Stephen's body, clothe him, and lay him to rest with dignity.

"I don't want to leave Stephen and Janjira there because their deaths were violent and I want to take them away from that," Ms Bond said at the time.

Mr Bond ran a construction company in Bangkok. His mother, Doreen Hansen, who lives in Christchurch, gave a DNA sample to help identify her son.

Ms Hansen said the family were very happy to have Mr Bond's body identified. She had planned to travel to Thailand when he was found, but was now considering bringing him back to Christchurch.

"It's a very emotional time for us, and it's just too early to make any decisions," Ms Hansen said tonight.

She and daughters Nicola and Michelle Bond were still coming to terms with the news.

They hoped Mr Bond's wife would also soon be identified.

Three other New Zealanders have been confirmed dead, with the bodies of Leone Cosens, 51, Craig Baxter, 37, and Belinda Welch, 26, having been formally identified.

Mrs Welch's husband, Andrew, 42, has not been found.

A New Zealand-born Canadian, 74-year-old June Kander, was also killed in the catastrophe. Ten people are still on a list of New Zealanders unaccounted for.

- NZPA