Heathrow offers help to victims

Relief is on hand for holidaymakers returning from the disaster

Medical and humanitarian services are offering help to tourists returning from tsunami-stricken south-east Asia at Heathrow Airport.

BBC London reporter Tom Maskell said teams, under the guidance of the airport's police, had been meeting dazed tourists returning to Britain.

Some, he said, had nothing more than the clothes they stood in.

He said agencies such as the Red Cross were handing out food, clothing and blankets to those in need.

"There are people having emotional reunions with friends and family, standing in the clothes they were wearing when the waves hit, with nothing in the way of possessions," Mr Maskell said.

Reception area

Red Cross volunteers have been giving out material goods, while chaplains and vicars from the surrounding area have been on hand to talk to any holidaymakers affected by the disaster.

The Foreign Office said the two reception centres, one at Terminal 3 and another at Terminal 4, were making assessments of the returning holidaymakers.

There was also a reception area for relatives to meet the returning tourists, a spokeswoman said.

"They're providing medical advice, treatment and clothing," she said.

Heathrow was expecting more than 1,100 tourists to have returned from Sri Lanka by Friday, and another 1,200 from the Maldives.

It is not known how many from Thailand will pass through over the next few days.

Teams from similar organisations are meeting tourists arriving back at Gatwick Airport.

A British Red Cross spokeswoman said: "Some people may have lost all their clothes in this terrible disaster, and might be arriving back in just their shorts and sandals."