THOUSANDS of people in the region will die from the asbestos-related lung disease mesothelioma over the next decade, it has been revealed.

The statistics come in the latest Health and Safety Executive statistics, which show UK deaths linked to asbestos will not peak until at least 2011.

The revelation has prompted a leading expert in industrial disease cases in the region to demand that the Government increase medical research into treatment for mesothelioma.

The statistics show that asbestos-related deaths from the disease will be at their highest in the region between 2011 and 2015.

There were about 1,600 deaths of men from mesothelioma in the North-East and North Yorkshire between 1981 and 2000, which amounts to ten per cent of all deaths from the disease in England and Wales.

Particular hotspots are all parts of Tyneside and Stockton, where there were 107 deaths. There were also about 200 deaths of women in the same area over the same period.

Experts say research is vital to enable victims of the condition to recover proper compensation when companies or their insurers responsible for exposing them to asbestos dust cannot be traced or are insolvent.

Stanley man Arthur Haslam is thought to have contracted the disease when working as a storeman at AV Roe/Hawker Siddeley/ British Aerospace in Manchester between 1963 and 1979.

Mr Haslam enjoyed a healthy life until at the age of 86, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma after suffering breathing difficulties, and died four days later.

His daughter, Christine McKinley, of No Place, near Stanley, said "His death was sudden and very painful.

"It is a shame by the time people find out they have the disease nothing can be done. More research should be done to find a cure."

Roger Maddocks, a partner at Newcastle-based personal injury law firm Irwin Mitchell said: "Diagnosis of mesothelioma is almost invariably followed by death within three years."

According to Health and Safety Executive figures, more than two million people suffer from work-related ill health.

The annual number of deaths in the UK from mesothelioma has increased from 153 in 1968 to 1,862 in 2002 and is not expected to peak for another several years.

Claims for compensation will rise significantly in the next decade, say experts. They are concerned that many victims and their families will face difficulties in obtaining compensation.

Mr Maddocks said: "Because of the long time lag between exposure to asbestos and development of mesothelioma, typically anything between ten and 50 years, many victims or their families will face difficulties in the future."