Family's hopes for missing Britons

Saeed Dawood was travelling with relatives in India

Relatives of two British men missing after being caught up sectarian riots in India are hopeful they will be found alive.

More than 400 people are reported to have been killed in the Indian state of Gujarat, the scene of violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that Mohammed Aswat Nallabhai, 41, from Batley in West Yorkshire is among the dead.

All our energies are being devoted to getting my brother and Shakil found

Yusef Dawood

His relatives Saeed Dawood, 41, Shakil Dawood, 37 are still missing.

Saeed's brother Yusef Dawood said his family was clinging to the hope the missing pair would be found alive.

"There is no blueprint as to how you handle these things," he told the BBC.

"In some respects I think it will hit everybody later on because at this point all our energies are being devoted to getting my brother and Shakil found."

Mob attack

Mr Nallabhai's group was travelling in a minibus when they were attacked near Himmatnagar, about 100 miles from Gujarat's biggest city, Ahmadabad on Thursday.

Yusuf Dawood said another relative, Iran Dawood, 18, was able to give them a first hand account of what happened.

He said the vehicle was stopped and attacked by a crowd.

Shakil Dawood is also missing

Mr Dawood said Imran saw the minibus driver, who lived in Gujarat, dragged out of the vehicle by a mob and killed.

He said the teenager also witnessed Mr Nallabhai attacked before he was hit over the head.

After being released from hospital Imran, who had never been to India before, was asked to identify the bodies of the two men.

But Mr Dawood said there has been no more news of Saeed and Shakil.

The Foreign Office says consular officials are making efforts to trace them.

A spokeswoman said: "Two people are still missing and we are waiting to hear from our consul in Bombay to see if there is any more information."

Family members say they believe the minibus was attacked by a mob of at least 30-40 people.

The death toll has continued to rise in attacks on Muslims since a train packed with Hindu activists was attacked by arsonists belonging to Muslim groups.