Holidaymakers are waiting to find out if planned trips will be cancelled in the wake of the under-sea earthquake thought to have killed more than 60,000 people in Asia.

Travel agents across Essex were yesterday fielding calls from families who have paid for vacations to popular destinations such as Thailand and Malaysia.

In Colchester, staff at First Choice were advising customers scheduled to leave in the next few days on a trip to Sri Lanka to keep checking details prior to departure.

A party of Britons who booked through the firm are in the Maldives, where 32 people died when the massive quake on the ocean floor sent huge waves surging into heavily populated coastal areas in nine countries.

At Going Places, workers had been handling dozens of calls from people expecting to head off to the affected regions.

Published Wednesday, December 29, 2004

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