EXPERIMENTAL work by North-East scientists could save thousands of airline passengers lives, it was claimed yesterday.

Scientists based at the Sunderland Enterprise Park are developing genetic tests designed to help people with deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a condition estimated to kill as many as 20,000 people a year.

They are looking at ways to develop a test to assess the risk DVT sufferers face when they travel on long-haul flights - the so-called economy class syndrome.

A chief executive officer of the company working on the tests, Complement Genomics, said molecular biologists were at the first stage of developing a test for the condition.

DVT, which was first discovered in 1994, is a condition mainly contracted by people with a changed gene known as Factor V - about seven per cent of the population.

People who have that gene are three times more likely to contract the condition. It has been dubbed the economy class syndrome since a number of cases were recorded among passengers on long flights in cramped conditions.

It occurs when blood clots form in deep veins in the leg after people have been immobile for long periods