The Congleton Chronicle was able to tell the mother of a man feared dead following the Boxing Day tsunami that her son was safe.

When details of her search were published in the paper, a friend of a friend got in touch with the editorial staff.

Congleton mother Sandra Connor contacted the Chronicle as a last resort after calls to the British Embassy and national governments across Asia failed to bring her any closer to tracing her son, Andrew, who had been backpacking in Thailand when the tsunami struck.

She had not spoken to him for 14 months and had last learned of his whereabouts in November via a postcard in Toh Kao, a divers' island off the east coast of Thailand.

Reporter Scott Hesketh said: "When the mother came to us she was pretty desperate.

"At first she didn't want anything published but I suggested putting a piece in the paper in case someone who knew him read it - it's a small world.

"She had to be persuaded, but two weeks later we hadn't heard anything and she was beginning to lose hope."

Then, the call everyone had been waiting for came - from a lady who had seen the article and contacted Andrew's former girlfriend in Amsterdam, who in turn contacted his flatmate.

Scott said: "The lady rang the paper but said she didn't know Andrew's mother, so asked if we could pass the message on that he was safe.

"I went round to her house to break the news - she was expecting the worse when she saw me at the door.

"She was overjoyed when I told her the news."

After receiving an e-mail from her Andrew - who didn't know his parents' new telephone number - Sandra thanked the Chronicle.

She said: "It's amazing that of all the help we have sought - emails to national government, phone calls to the British Embassy - a 35p local paper has helped find my son and made me feel alive."

Scott said: "From a personal point of view it was really satisfying to think that something you can do can have such an effect on someone else's life.

"There are few jobs that afford such satisfaction."