A British rescue mission flew to Japan last night to help the search for survivors as the Foreign Office received more than 1,500 calls from families who had not heard from relatives living in the country.
The team of 63 medics and fire and rescue specialists were expected to arrive in the disaster zone today, having only recently returned from New Zealand where they helped in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake.
The mission, drawn from across Britain, was accompanied by two rescue dogs and included heavy lifting and cutting equipment.
Yesterday the Foreign Office was besieged with calls from people who feared that family members may have been caught up in Friday’s tragedy. Many of the Britons living on the northeastern coast of Japan — which was worst hit — are teachers.
With telephone lines down and many power cuts, even those who survived were struggling to contact friends or relatives in the UK.
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Among those still unaccounted for last night was Julian Crocker, 46, who runs four language schools teaching English to children in and around Sendai, the city closest to the epicentre of the earthquake.
One of his schools was seen on news footage being washed away by the tsunami.
Crocker’s brother, Jon, said he had not heard from the teacher, his Japanese wife, Yukino, or their sons, Leon, six, and Shaun, four.
He searched for news using missing persons websites set up by Google and the Red Cross and by contacting Crocker’s work colleagues. He said: “We’ve been trying to get hold of him in every way possible, but all the phone lines are down.”
Other British teachers missing include Paul Harris, 54, and Anna Francis, 24, from Bristol, who has been in Japan for seven months.
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William Hague, the foreign secretary, said : “We have no confirmed British casualties as yet, but of course the picture will become clearer as recovery teams do their work, as communications are re-established.
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