Fears were growing today for three York tourists who were holidaying in Thailand when the Asian earthquake struck.

Father-of-three Stephen Magson, 54, remains missing in Phuket.

His wife Denise and daughter India, who both survived the disaster, have pinned his photo alongside pictures of hundreds of other missing people in the city, while friends have posted a message on the BBC website appealing for help in tracing him.

The family from Holgate Bridge Gardens, York, are believed to have jetted off to Thailand ten days before Christmas with their daughter. Their sons Richard and William are believed to be staying with relatives.

Mr Magson is a company director in a property removal firm in Leeds, while his wife runs a self-catering cottage business in York.

The families of Sarah Emily Bent, 19, and her boyfriend Robert William Rowbottom, 21, have not heard from them since Christmas Day. The couple were holidaying at the Charlie Beach Resort on the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi when the tsunami devastated their resort.

Miss Bent, from Copmanthorpe, had been studying travel and tourism at Northumbria University and had jetted out to Bangkok to be with Robert, a former St Peter's School pupil, who is from near Pocklington, for Christmas.

Updated: 09:27 Monday, January 03, 2005