The family of missing North-East backpacker Leanne Cox have travelled to Thailand to try to find her.

Her heartbroken mother Jean has pinned photographs of Leanne on the huge notice boards already bearing hundreds of pictures of missing people.

But British embassy volunteer staff have told her all the tsunami survivors have been identified and Leanne is not one of them.

The world focus shifted yesterday from rescue to relief, as hopes of finding more survivors from last week's waves faded.

So Jean knows the chances of finding alive Leanne, 23, from Hartlepool, are very slim and has undergone the grim procedure of giving DNA to Thai authorities still trying to identify the dead.

Leanne was last seen on Boxing Day on Kho Phi Phi island. She was with friends and an Australian man she had met on her 13-month trip round the world.

She had just finished a degree at Leeds University and was planning to look for a job in accountancy in Newcastle on her return.

Leanne's uncle Mike has taken Jean to Phuket because her father, Alan, is ill.

The family heard in telephone calls from her friends that she had been swept away by the tsunami.

Speaking from Phuket, Mike said: "One of them saw her head above water, so they hoped she would be all right. As most of the others rang home to say they were safe, we were sure she would be ringing home."

But, that call never came and Jean decided to try to find Leanne herself.

"At first, we thought there would be no point in going," said Mike. "What could we do? But, Jean wanted to see for herself."