BRITONS stranded in the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina began returning home last night as US officials confirmed thousands of people are feared dead.

But as holidaymakers at Gatwick Airport, including several from the North-East, enjoyed tearful reunions with relatives, Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman said that as many as 150 Britons were still unaccounted for.

He said relatives had inquired about 300 Britons and contact has been made with about half of them.

But later a spokewoman for the Foreign Office said the number of Britons who had not been traced was 131.

She said officials were keen to stress that many of them were likely to be safe.

In New Orleans last night, it was confirmed that police marksmen had opened fire on eight people carrying guns on a bridge, killing five or six of them.

Earlier, officials had admitted it was evident thousands were dead in the wreckage of New Orleans.

The US has appealed to the European Union for help, asking for blankets, first aid kits, water trucks and food.

Britain is sending 500,000 military ration packs, each containing a 24-hour supply of food for one person. The first consignment will be flown to the US this morning.

Nato has also confirmed that it is donating relief and has offered the country food rations.

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warned the true horrors of the disaster were still to be revealed.

"I think we need to prepare the country for what's coming," he said on a tour of the ravaged region.

Witnesses have described seeing corpses floating through the city, dumped on roads and, in one case, huddled together in an attic.

The effort to move people away from the disaster zone has included the largest airlift in US history, with 10,000 already ferried away by helicopter.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has warned that his state is running out of room, with more than 220,000 hurricane refugees sheltering there.

President Bush, who will return to the region today, said: "There's more that needs to be done. This country is coming together to help those who hurt."

At Gatwick Airport, summer camp worker Sarah Yorston embraced family members as she arrived home on a flight from Texas.

She spent three days in the deteriorating conditions of the Superdome before being escorted by the National Guard to a medical centre and then a hotel.

Eventually, she and other Britons were taken to Dallas, Texas.

Ms Yorston, who is originally from South Shields, South Tyneside, said: "It was total chaos, and devastation.

"These people have lost everything and they are doing desperate things."

Josephine Baines and Alex Cowan, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, described how they had to step over dead bodies in the Superdome to get out.

Ms Baines, 22, a former bar manager, said: "We have been scared out of our wits.

"There were kids running around screaming and people crying.

"The smell was so overpowering I retch now just thinking about it.

"The toilets had overflowed and there was human excrement covering all the floors."

* The Foreign Office has issued a hotline number - 0207 008 0000 - for concerned relatives to contact.

There is also a 24-hour contact number for the British consulate in Houston. It is 001 713 659 6270.

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