A CHANCE business trip to Japan resulted in a North-East man finding his father's grave, which the family feared they would not see after he died 35 years ago.

Project manager Mark Francis, 41, of Middlesbrough, visited Japan to oversee the development of a steel plant in the Far East last week.

He knew his father, David Francis, a merchant seaman, was buried somewhere in the country but did not know the exact location.

The family received news he had died of a heart attack near his ship, the Sheaf Tyne, owned by WH Souter, of Newcastle, in the Port of Hirohata in October 1967. He was 39.

By the time his family found out, he had been buried and they have not been able to have a funeral service or visit the grave until now.

Mr Francis, who was six when his father died, said: "It was very emotional because the only memories I have of my father are just a couple of flashes in my mind because I was so young.

"Everything just fell into place because it turned out to be only half an hour from where I staying, so it was really convenient.

"It was nice to be able to close a chapter in our life because no-one had been out there."

David's daughter, Linda Hearfield, was 11 when she heard from the Mission to Seafarers that her father died.

She got in touch with the South Tees branch to see if they could tell her where he was buried.

Within three days, she was informed he was in the foreigner's cemetery at Futatube, in the port city of Kobe.

The manager of the Mission's Kobe centre, Setsuho Kinoshita, cleared the plot, cleaned the headstone and laid some flowers in preparation for his son's visit.

Mrs Hearfield, of Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough, said: "If we had left it until next year, he would have been moved and we would never have been able to track him down or re-register the grave.

"Then there would have been no chance of us ever going out there.

"It just seems as if it is meant to be, given the timing of it all.

"This is something we have always wanted to do, but have never been able to afford it, so it is nice that at least one member of the family has been able to see where he is."

Mr Francis' widow, Violet, 71, was heartbroken that she and her three children were unable to say goodbye to their father properly, but now feels her husband can rest in peace.

She said: "I am over the moon because we did not have a lot of information about where he was, so I did not expect them to find him.

"My son was going over there anyway, so it was just a stroke of luck that they ended up being so close together."