Former postmaster David Atkins, 63, and his wife Diane, 62, were travelling by coach from a hotel in Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital, to the Wolong nature reserve when the earthquake hit.

Foreign Office officials and the tour operator, Kuoni, have been unable to contact the coach, which was carrying 19 people, including the couple from Hill View Road, Portchester.

Mr and Mrs Atkins's only daughter Lisa Staples, 39, from Tangier Road, Copnor, is desperate to hear news of her parents.

She and other family members have sent e-mails and called the hotel but no-one has yet located the coach.

Speaking to The News today, she said: 'I'm so worried. We have heard nothing.

'The last time I spoke to my mum was on Sunday May 4. I think they were in Singapore.

'Everybody we have phoned has been pleasant and taken information but can't or won't say if they are alive.

'My belief at the moment is that they are. We have to be positive but we just don't know.'

Since their retirement, Mr and Mrs Atkins have enjoyed travelling on safari trips.

Mr Atkins takes photographs of the animals and then does sketches of them.

They have three grandchildren – grandsons Charlie, nine and Courtney, 12 and a granddaughter Chloe, 15.

Charlie said: 'I just want to know they are okay. I spoke to them the day before they went. I said goodbye. They are good fun.

'My grandad lets me go up in the loft and my gran plays games with me. I want them to come home.'

An estimated 2,000 travellers remain unaccounted for in the earthquake, China's worst for 30 years.

So far, no foreign casualties have been reported.

The panda reserves of Sichuan province are a popular destination for tourists, especially the Wolong nature reserve in Wenchuan county, the epicentre of the huge quake.

China's Xinhua state news agency, which reported on Tuesday that 15 Britons were out of reach on Tuesday morning in Wenchuan.

It is believed that report related to the coach that Mr and Mrs Atkins were travelling on.