First Choice has said that one customer was killed by the tsunamis which struck the Indian Ocean, and that further clients were missing, as tour operators assessed the impact of the disaster.

MyTravel, the rival holiday company, said that it had a "single figure" number of missing customers.

Insurers have also continued to estimate their exposure to the disaster, which has killed about 60,000 people and, according to Gerhard Berz, a risk researcher at Munich Re, will have an economic cost of $13 billion (£6.7 billion). However, individual insurers have so far forecast only limited losses to tsunami claims, with Munich Re estimating exposure of less than £70 million.

First Choice, which had nearly 1,200 customers in the resorts hit by Sunday's waves, said that it had accounted for all but six of the holidaymakers. The missing customers had been in an area of Thailand to which communications "had been particularly badly disrupted".

One customer, in the Maldives, had been confirmed dead, with the remaining First Choice holidaymakers in the islands either already repatriated or being flown home over the next few days.

Scheduled flights were also being used to return holidaymakers from Sri Lanka, the company added, saying that it was "working closely" with the Foreign Office and the Federation of Tour Operators.

Customers with holidays booked in the affected areas were being offered refunds, or the chance to change the date or destination of their bookings.

However, First Choice said that the disaster would not have a "material impact" on the company's full year results.

"The percentage of bookings that are affected by the event, in the context of the group's total annual bookings, is very small," this morning's statement said.

Other holiday companies have suffered greater impact to the tsunamis, with Accor, the French leisure company, saying this morning that 360 people - 261 guests and 99 employees - were missing from its Sofitel Magic Lagoon hotel in Khao Lak, Thailand.

First Choice shares stood 4.75p lower at 149.75p in morning trade.

Stock in MyTravel, whose bondholders approved a restructuring proposal to free the company from crippling debt, rose by 1.92p to 7.90p.

Times Recommends

• Equitable Life halts £7bn sale on market turmoil
• Potential buyers emerge to save Woolworths staff
• Terrorist attacks close Bombay Stock Exchange