A NORTH-EAST couple, who were visiting Bali on their honeymoon, are helping identify victims of the bomb blast.

Newlyweds John and Eugenie McCreanor, of Darlington, immediately put aside their wedding celebrations to assist emergency workers in the resort of Kuta.

More than 180 people are believed to have been killed in the terrorist attack which ripped through the heart of the resort favoured by holidaymakers. As many as 33 Britons are feared dead.

The couple, who flew out to the island following their wedding on October 5 in West Sussex, were so affected by the scenes of carnage that they volunteered to help at the local hospital.

They have been working in the mortuary, helping to identify victims and have described scenes at the hospital as very chaotic.

The hospital is struggling to cope with the high volume of casualities and volunteers have been drafted in to cope with the rising number of dead and wounded. About 300 people were injured in the blast.

The volunteers were yesterday waiting for the arrival of a medical team from Australia.

Luckily, John, 29, a police officer in Chilton, County Durham, and his wife, a doctor, who is soon to start work at Denmark Street surgery, in Darlington, were not in the area when the bomb exploded outside the Sari nightclub.

When news of the blast reached England, John's parents, who live in Gainford, near Darlington, desperately tried to get through on phone hotlines set up by the Foreign Office, to find out if the couple were alive.

Speaking from his home, last night, John's father, Duncan, said: "Thankfully, they were not nearby when the bombs went off.

"John had a mobile phone with him and he called home about half an hour later.

"We had great difficulty getting through to the hotline and we were relieved to hear that they were OK.

"He was only able to make a short phone call to us. He said that it was very chaotic in the hospital and that they seemed to be relying on volunteers to help out.

"There are lot of Australians travelling over to Bali looking for family members.

"John and Eugenie are now spending their honeymoon helping victims. We are very proud of them."

British tour operators are continuing to bring home UK tourists from Bali, but scores of British holidaymakers decided to defy the bombers by staying on to complete their holidays.