Long wait for relatives as hopes fade for missing Britons

The relatives of many of the 10 British holidaymakers still missing after the bomb attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday waited for news in hotels yesterday or combed cafes and restaurants with photographs in the hope that someone had seen them since the disaster.

But some who flew out from Britain at the weekend accepted the grim certainty that their loved ones were gone.

"Our children, Jez Lakin, 28, and Annalie Vickers, 31, were on holiday at the time of the explosions. Sadly, we now believe it is likely that the two of them are among those who have died," their parents said in a statement released by the British Embassy.

The couple were on the last night of a week's diving holiday at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Naama Bay, the main beach resort three miles from Sharm el-Sheikh. They had gone to a pedestrianised street where bars, discos and restaurants stay open until after midnight.

"This is every parent's nightmare," Trevor Lakin and John Corke, Ms Vickers' stepfather, told GMTV. "It is something that you see happening to other people and you don't believe it will happen to you. But it has and we have to come to terms with that."

The men and their wives arrived on Sunday, and were at the hotel where their children had been staying. Their statement praised Egypt's emergency services for an "excellent response" to the crisis.

"We would like to add that the Egyptian people have been a great comfort to us. We know that many of them lost loved ones. Our hearts are with them also," they said.

Almost three-quarters of the 64 bomb victims were Egyptian. One bomb, apparently intended for a hotel, went off when the vehicle carrying it was held up at a roadblock near a coffee shop used mainly by Egyptian drivers and shopkeepers. Another went off at a place where minibuses turn round and park.

About 40 British doctors, nurses, counsellors, Foreign Office officials and forensic experts are working in Naama Bay. DNA samples have been taken from bodies and close relatives to help identification. But the Foreign Office has said it will release names only if the families of the dead want it.

"We've been working hard with the Egyptian authorities to identify the missing as quickly as possible. Formal confirmation of the names will be a matter for the coroner in the United Kingdom," an official said.

Most of the British missing had been staying at the Ghazala Gardens hotel, which was severely damaged in the second explosion, when a suicide bomber drove into the lobby. The reception area collapsed and many of the rooms closest to it were wrecked.

Peter and Christopher Bracci were searching for news of their sister, Lesley Ayers, from Basildon, and their mother, Valerie Bracci, from Canvey Island, who had been at the hotel. Its ruined front is covered in white sheeting to which flowers have been pinned.

Three members of another British family are also missing. Alan and Mandy Bentley from Grantham had been on holiday with their son, David, and his friend.

Many shopkeepers have laid off staff and flights to Cairo are packed with Egyptians. Sharm el-Sheikh is a relatively new resort and the owners of most small businesses come from the capital or other major towns. Some shopkeepers are planning to close for several weeks. Others cannot afford to.

"I have a family to feed and I cannot close," said Emad Abdullah in a shop full of wooden pharaohs and papyrus covered in bright hieroglyphs. "I've bought most of this merchandise on credit and if I don't sell enough to pay my debts I'll go to prison."

The Egyptian government yesterday denied reports that it was hunting a group of Pakistanis in connection with the bombings. The state-owned paper al-Ahram quoted the assistant interior minister, Mohammed Shaarawi, denying a report on al-Jazeera television that police were hunting men who had left their passports at a hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh and gone missing.

Earlier, the Egyptian ambassador in Pakistan denied Pakistani involvement. Sources also downplayed the significance of an exchange of fire between police and bedouin on Monday. Several dozen bedouin have been arrested.