Yellowknife (Dec 29/04) - The families of two Yellowknifers thought to be travelling in northern Thailand are frantically trying to find the couple in the wake of a catastrophic tsunami that struck parts of Asia over the Christmas weekend.

Carnival Queen 2004 Elsbeth Fielding (nee Fossum), 28, and her husband Regan Fielding, 27, were on a six-month tour of southeast Asia for their honeymoon. Neither has been heard from since Dec. 6.

Caribou Carnival Queen 2004 Elsbeth Fielding (nee Fossum) weds fellow Yellowknifer Regan Fielding, Oct. 22, in London, Ont. The couple which is vacationing in Thailand has not been heard from since Dec. 6.

The two, who married Oct. 22, in London, Ont., were expected to have been travelling inland in the country's north.

"The only thing that we know is that their last known location was in Sukhothai in Thailand and they were supposed to be departing there the following day for Chiang Mai (Thailand)," said Earl Fossum, Elspeth's father, from his home in London, Ont.

"We're hoping they didn't change plans and head south to where the beaches are," said Nancy Fielding, Regan's mother, in Huntsville, Ont.

"We hope they're not missing, that they're just stuck in a tent in the middle of the jungle somewhere," she said.

More than 80,000 people have lost their lives in the unprecedented disaster and death tolls are expected to rise.

A 9.0 magnitude quake occurred just off the coast of Sumatra, an Indonesian island on Dec. 26. The resulting tsunami devastated coastlines throughout the Indian Ocean and as far away as Africa.

Once Christmas passed without any communication, the families began to be concerned.

"A couple of days after that we started to get serious about calling people," said Fielding.

"We contacted a lot of people," Fielding said. "The woman at the embassy in Bangkok has been really helpful."

Pictures of the two have been sent to the embassy and both Regan and Elsbeth's names are red-flagged in case they try to cross an automated border.

The manager of a guest house the two stayed in has also checked local hospitals and maintained contact with the family.

The federal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade proved to be little help at first though, Fielding said.

"I must have phoned that number 25 times in one day," she said of the contact number advertised over the television.

"It didn't matter. You'd go into an automated system and eventually it would just click out and there'd be a dead line. I never did get through." vFossum had better luck and was able to register the two as missing persons with both the Red Cross and foreign affairs.

Another possibility, according to Fielding, is the two had talked of visiting a friend in Chiang Mai or Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

"We tried very hard to see if we could contact that person to answer some questions about their travel plans," she said, but the families are not yet aware who the friend is.

Regan, who graduated from Guelph University and works as an environmental scientist for Tli Cho Logistics has lived in the NWT for almost five years, his mother said. Elsbeth, who quit her job at Dillon Consulting to go on the honeymoon, has resided here close to one year.

Both Fielding and Fossum hope that some of the couple's friends in Yellowknife may have had recent contact with the newlyweds.

Anyone with information is invited to e-mail the Fossums at earl_donna@rogers.com.