A 12-YEAR-OLD boy who was orphaned by the Boxing Day tsunami told yesterday of his and his brother’s agony at losing their parents.

Theodore Mullan said he would do anything to see again the “best Mum and Dad in the world”. He said he hoped that Leonard Barratt, 50, and Catherine Mullan, 53, were looking after each other.

The final day of the inquest on 93 British victims of the tsunami was told how the brothers survived when the wave tore through the resort in Thailand where their family was staying. They had returned to their rooms in Khao Lak while their parents went to the beach to watch the waters receding; they were swept out to sea.

Neither of the boys, who now live with family friends in Cornwall, attended the hearing in London, but Theodore’s eulogy was read to a hushed court.

“My mum and dad were the best parents in the world. I had lots of funny and nice memories of our life together,” he wrote. “My dad made the best curries. When dad was making them I set the table and we listened to nice piano music.

“Mum was the best. Me and my mum often went down to let the chickens out in our dressing gowns. We went on many great holidays together, all around the world.”

The boys told their grandmother, Helen Mullan, 84, that they were “tumbled about” by the waves. After being treated for their injuries, like so many bewildered relatives desperate for news of loved ones, the children pinned up a note at the Takua Pa Hospital.

It read: “Louis and Theo Barratt Mullan are safe and all right. We are looking for our mother and father. Try to contact us, Mum and Dad. We are with friends we met here.”

At the time their grandparent said that both boys had been very brave but Theo appeared disturbed by what had happened. Their uncle, Nick Mullan, 52, from Bradford, and his sister, Joy, flew to Thailand to collect the boys.

Weeks later the bodies of Mr Barratt, a care worker from Truro, and Ms Mullan, a project manager, were found.

The hearing, at Kensington Olympia, West London, was also told of the death of Rachel Quinn, 34, who was walking from the beach with her husband, Kevin, 37, when the wave hit. Her body was not identified until March. After the hearing, her parents issued a statement criticising the British Government’s handling of the disaster.

For five minutes, relatives of the dead, including survivors who had seen loved ones swept away, stood in silence as each of the 151 names of Britons and those connected to Britain were displayed on an overhead screen. Six are still missing.

Below are the details of others who lost their lives in the Boxing Day tsunami whose inquests were held yesterday

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