A SECOND East Lancashire couple are missing and feared dead following the tsunami.

Shaw and Val Lingham were on a ten-week trip to Sri Lanka when the giant wave hit on Boxing Day.

It is believed they were staying in the port city of Trincomalee on the north east coast - one of the worst affected areas.

Friends, desperate to discover if they are OK, have posted a message on the missing persons message board on the Sky News website.

They are the second East Lancashire couple unaccounted for. Terence Ford, 62, and his wife Susan, 55, of Country Mews, Blackburn, were in Thailand when disaster struck and have not been in contact with their family since.

Today it emerged another East Lancashire man is also believed to be missing. A message has been posted on Sky News asked for Keven Wingfield, of York Street, Nelson, to get in touch with

family and friends. Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw has confirmed 159 British people are missing, feared dead, following the natural disaster in addition to the 40 people already confirmed dead.

More than 29,700 people are dead in Sri Lanka and 5,000 are missing.

The Sri Lankan tourist board has set up an online record of survivors but the Linghams, of Brownhill Avenue, Burnley, are not on the list of UK tourists or of people staying on Trincomalee that have been located.

Today a neighbour and close friend of the Linghams said he was worried.

He said: "I have known them for more than two years. They went a few weeks ago but I thought they would have been back by now because of what's happened and because Shaw isn't in the best of health.

"But they are the type of people who won't come back if they can help somebody.

"They are a nice couple, very quiet. They keep themselves to themselves but they are good friends. They will do anything for you."

The neighbour said one of the couple's daughters went to their home in Brownhill Avenue to look for details of their holiday plans the day after tragedy struck 11 countries around the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day, killing 150,000.

He added: "I asked her to let me know if they turned up but I haven't heard any news."

Mr Lingham is a non-active director and adviser for Brunshaw Neighbourhood Estate Management Board Association, which formerly helped manage the borough's council houses but now offers community advice and training.

A message asking Mr and Mrs Lingham to get in contact is among the thousands of posts on a message board asking for information about friends and relatives.

It reads: "Trying to find Shaw and Val Lingham from Burnley, UK, staying in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Contact Kev or Veena just to let us know your OK."

Nelson-based charity Muslim Global Relief has sent a team to Sri Lanka to help provide shelter, food, water, clothing and medicine. The organisation is appealing for funds to help the relief work.

The Government has now announced it will match public donations of £60million .