A DECISION by the Foreign Office to make arrangements to issue death certificates for British victims of the Asian tsunami has been welcomed by a North-East man who lost his daughter in the disaster.

Foreign Office Minister Douglas Alexander said that because of the exceptional circumstances, the normal seven-year period before a certificate can be issued where there is no body, had been lifted.

Alan Cox, from Hartlepool, lost his 23-year-old daughter, Leanne, after she was swept away from the guesthouse she was staying at with friends on Ko Phi Phi island, in Thailand.

Mr Cox said: "It is good that common sense has prevailed because the seven-year rule in these circumstances would be wholly unacceptable and intolerable.

"But I do think the Government has just been playing catch-up to public opinion."

Mr Cox and his stepson Graeme Elliott, 24, have created a website called Tsunami Stories, in dedication to the families of the 220,000 dead.

"The website has been growing and at one time there were 600 people on it," he said.

"The British Library has contacted my stepson and they want a permanent record of the site for future reference. It's not so much a memorial to our daughter as a place for people to go and hopefully take some comfort."

The site can be found at www.tsunamistories.net

Mr Alexander said that in order for a certificate to be issued, four tests laid down by the British police would have to be satisfied. They are:

* Evidence exists beyond reasonable doubt that the person concerned had travelled to the affected region;

* That on the balance of probability they were in the area at the time the tsunami struck;

* There is no reasonable evidence of life since December 26;

* There is no reason on the balance of probability to believe that the person would want to disappear.

The move comes amid concerns that the families of victims whose bodies are not discovered could face years of uncertainty before they are able to sort out the affairs of their loved ones.

Mr Alexander acknowledged that it could be months rather than weeks before the first certificates are issued under the new procedure, while the lengthy identification process in Thailand and other affected countries continued.

He said that the priority remained the discovery and identification of bodies.

So far, 53 Britons have been confirmed dead, while another 203 are thought to be highly likely to have been caught up in the tragedy.

A further 346 remain unaccounted for.