A man has described the heartbreak task of identifying the bodies of five family members lost in the Thailand boat disaster. He spoke with our correspondent Martin Lowe in Phuket.

A convoy of ambulances transports bodies recovered from the sea. The pace is slow and respectful. As the number of dead continues to rise, the families of the lost, injured and missing have been arriving from China. Almost all of the victims were Chinese holidaymakers. Many wanted to talk but were clearly finding it difficult. This man told us he'd had six relatives on the stricken boat. Five had drowned; one was in hospital. He'd given DNA to match with those who'd perished: among them a couple with a daughter back home in Guangdong, who couldn't stop crying at the news she'd lost her parents.

HUANG GUOQUAN TOURISTS' RELATIVE "I'm just waiting for the DNA results. I have given as much information as I can, such as one of my relatives lost a finger by getting it caught in a washing machine when she was nine, so now she only has nine fingers. But they say that isn't enough to make a formal identification."

MARTIN LOWE VACHIRA HOSPITAL, PHUKET "Guoquan was bewildered at the scale of his loss, unsure what to do next. But he was thankful to the Chinese and Thai authorities for bringing him here, to perform what he sees as a family duty."

This is Thailand's worst sea disaster in recent years. The pleasure boat Phoenix was sunk by five-meter waves in a storm off the island of Phuket, trapping passengers inside or hurling them into the sea. While a search for survivors continues, the final death toll is expected to exceed 50. Martin Lowe, CGTN, Phuket.