British families begin to learn the terrible truth about their missing

The granddaughter of the film director and actor Lord Attenborough was killed and his daughter presumed dead, his family announced last night, as the British death toll continued to rise.

Lucy Attenborough, 14, was killed almost instantly and her mother, Jane Attenborough, was swept away when the wave struck the southern Thai island resort of Phuket on Boxing Day morning. A statement from Diana Hawkins, a friend of the family, confirmed that the two women, who were midway through a two-week family holiday, had been lost.

It added that Jane Attenborough's mother-in-law, Jane Holland, was also missing, feared dead, but that another three members of the party had escaped either unhurt or with minor injuries.

Last night, the number of Britons confirmed dead was put at 19 ­ 12 in Thailand, three in Sri Lanka and three in the Maldives ­ although emergency workers said a steep rise in the British death toll was inevitable.

Concerns that there would be further deaths focused on the popular holiday destinations in Thailand and Sri Lanka where reconnaissance teams are battling to reach remote coastal areas and islands.

It is believed about 770 people, mainly foreigners, are dead in Khao Lak, Thailand, home to a string of luxury international hotels. It is also feared that hundreds more have died on Koh Lanta and on Koh Phi Phi.

"At this moment we just don't know how many Britons may have been caught there and we are braced for reports of more deaths as the situation becomes clear. We are aware that there are a very large number of bodies as yet unidentified," said Tom Carter, of the British emergency consulate in Phuket.

In Sri Lanka, it is expected many more bodies of Britons will be found as the country's death toll rises. A spokeswoman for the British consulate in Colombo confirmed four British deaths, adding "we are expecting that figure to rise as our teams reach the worst-hit areas".

Among those who died in Thailand were Louise Willgrass, from Colney, near Norwich, who was swept away in front of her family seconds after she stopped to buy sun cream from a supermarket in Phuket. As water surged around the car, her husband Nigel tried to reverse but the wave burst open the doors, throwing its occupants out. Mr Willgrass came to the aid of his four children, aged six to 16, who clung to debris before they were washed up on to a hotel roof.

"They stopped because Louise needed some sun cream. She got out of the car to pop into a supermarket but she never made it," said Ms Willgrass's mother-in-law, Brenda Willgrass, yesterday. The survivors were taken in by a Thai family who drove them 500 miles to Bangkok where they are staying in a hotel awaiting a flight to the UK. "It's just been terrible, devastating. It's just hard to believe. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," added Mrs Willgrass.

She paid warm tribute to her daughter-in-law who was described as "sporty", "outgoing" and a devoted mother of her children Emily, 16, Ben, 14, Michael, nine, and Katie, six.

Last night the father of James Hurren, a 22-year-old assistant bank manager from Norfolk, was trying to remain optimistic despite hearing no news from his son, who was staying with a friend on the island of Phi Phi. His friend survived but Mr Hurren has not been seen since the tsunami struck.

Dale Hurren, 46, from Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk, said: "I am getting more worried as time goes on and I realise things do not look very good ­ but he is a fit lad and a strong swimmer. I am not going to give him up for dead when there is still a possibility that he is alive."

Last night a mother from St Ives, Cornwall, was mourning the loss of her two young sons and her boyfriend who died during a holiday in Thailand. In a statement, Devon and Cornwall Police said: "Police in Cornwall have been asked by Scotland Yard to advise a family in the St Ives area that members of their family are casualties in this tragic event while on holiday in Thailand.

"The group consisted of a 37-year-old mother of two boys, aged eight and six, from the St Ives area, and her 44-year-old boyfriend, who came originally from the Essex area."

Piers Simon, 33, a garden designer from Yeovil, Somerset, was also among those presumed dead. He was sitting with a group of friends, including his brother Luke, outside a café on the Thai island of Phi Phi when it was struck by the huge wave.

After helping his friends onto the corrugated iron roof of the café, he was swept away by another wave and has not been seen since.

The day after the disaster, Luke, who teaches in northern Thailand and had been reunited with his brother for a three-week holiday, sent a text message to his parents, Celia and Henry, reading: "Dad ­ We have lost Piers."

Yesterday, his mother Celia said: "At the moment we are clutching at straws but we are determined to remain positive. We think Piers may have been knocked unconscious and has lost his memory and is lying in a hospital somewhere."

The family of a honeymooning couple who are feared dead in Thailand made a desperate appeal yesterday for them to get in touch.

Christopher and Gaynor Mullen, from Richmond in south-west London, had been married for just a week when the tsunami hit the country's west coast. The newly-weds have not been in contact with their parents since Christmas morning, when they called simply saying that they were "on a beach".

Christopher's father, Nick Mullen, from Nottingham, said that he and his wife Colette now feared the worst. "They're the sort of people who would have called. It's inconceivable that they would not have let us know they were OK by now.

"We're looking at bodies floating in the sea, and wondering which one is them. My wife is desperate. All the family are desperate. It's awful."

The Phuket hospital has a website listing the names of people it is treating, and links to lists of those being treated elsewhere in Thailand. According to the website last night, 96 Britons are being treated, with more than 60 in emergency care.

Increasingly the internet is being used as a desperate means of tracking down those missing. On the BBC website, Ben Chod, from London, wrote: "I have been just married for a week and been spending our honeymoon in Bentota, Sri Lanka.

"Sharon, my wife, went down to the beach this morning to sunbathe and I have not seen her since. All I saw was a big wall of water coming down on the place where her sunbed was. She was probably fast asleep. I'm absolutely devastated."

Roland Buerk, who was in Unawatuna, on the south coast of Sri Lanka, spotted a passing local family as he was forced to cling to a tree after the swirling waters struck.

He told BBC News: "As they walked past, the teenage son, wearing an England football shirt, said in a very matter of fact way, 'My brother is dead'."