Lakhasly

The mother of an Asian tsunami victim, who was finally identified nine months after the disaster, said yesterday that she had never given up hope that her daughter had survived.

Sandra Bell was given the news after living with the uncertainty of not knowing what happened to newlywed Natalie McLeish, 28, since the Boxing Day castastrophe.

Mrs McLeish was on honeymoon in Thailand and although her husband, Andrew, was swiftly identified and his body flown home, no news emerged about her fate.

But DNA tests carried out last week finally confirmed what Mrs Bell, 63, had feared.

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Desperate families log on 30 Dec 2004
She said: "We never truly gave up hope. At least now we can grieve.

"My gorgeous girl has at last come home, and this gives me relief. She died alongside the love of her life, and we miss them both terribly.

"But it just goes to show that the tsunami is still affecting people here."

Mr and Mrs McLeish, of Sheffield, were on holiday on Phi Phi, an island off the Thai coast. They had originally chosen to go to New Zealand but changed their plans at the last minute.

The body of Mr McLeish, who ran a design company, was washed up on the beach shortly after the disaster.

Mrs Bell, from the village of Legbourne, Lincs, said they had never received any information about their daughter, a food technologist, and had even flown to the area to search for her.

She said: "They were adventurous, fit and so full of life. They were a terrific match and did everything together - skiing, diving, exploring the world.

"We believe they were having a lie-in when the wave struck and would have known very little about it. The first thing I did when I heard about the tsunami was phone Nat's mobile - and my heart sank when it just kept going into her voicemail."

Mrs Bell and her boyfriend, Ted Scott, travelled to Thailand for five days in January but were greeted only by utter devastation and returned with no further information.

The fateful news came on Saturday when it emerged that Mrs McLeish's body had been lying in a mortuary for several months, along with hundreds yet to be identified.

It has now been flown home and a funeral will take place later this month.

Mrs Bell still has the last words she received from her daughter - a text-message sent as the newlyweds prepared to board their flight. It reads: "45 mins 2 go. We both wish U a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Be safe, keep it real! C U in 2005! Lots of love Nat & Andy xx."

The BBC is screening a documentary tonight about the struggle to identify victims of the disaster. It will reveal that all the British victims in Sri Lanka have been identified, while the number of unidentified victims in Thailand is down to "single figures".

A forensic expert, Prof Sue Black, who features in the programme, said: "The longer between incident and identification the more difficult it becomes."

The survivors have to take precedence so the remains for identification take second place. It's the families of those victims who suffer terribly