A COUPLE from Blackburn who were in Thailand when the tsunami hit are missing and feared dead.

Terence and Susan Ford have not been in touch with their friends or relatives since the earthquake and subsequent tidal waves killed 150,000 and wrecked many countries within the Indian Ocean.

It has now been almost one week since their daughters heard of the disaster and they have tried various ways of getting in touch with their mother and father.

Daughter Louise Ford, 27, of Lancaster, has joined thousands of other people surfing emergency websites to try to gain any information about the whereabouts of loved ones.

She has included their details on the Family News Network of the International Committee of the Red Cross under a large section for those who have relatives missing in Thailand since the earthquake.

There are also thousands more people adding details of their loved ones to lists of people missing in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Mr Ford, 62, is originally from Leeds and Mrs Ford, 55, was born in Rochdale before they moved to East Lancashire.

Louise said she did not want to comment on the situation.

It is now feared that around 4,500 people have died in Thailand, almost half of whom were foreign tourists, with another 6,000 people still missing.

Six Thai provinces were battered by the huge tsunami with the worst affected being Phang Nga, where more than 3,600 deaths have been recorded, as well as the popular holiday resort of Phuket.

The people of Britain have now raised more than £45million to help the survivors - £13million of which was pledged yesterday..

The Government has also offered to transport aid paid for by the British public in addition to its earlier pledge of £50million.

A three-minute silence will be held across the UK at noon on Wednesday in remembrance of the thousands of people who have died.