Hunt meets missing NZ woman's parents

The country's High Commissioner in London has met the parents of the missing New Zealand woman, who is feared killed in Thursday's explosions.

At least 52 people are thought to be dead and many hundreds more seriously injured after four bombs were exploded in three tube stations and on a double-decker bus.

The woman's parents arrived in London yesterday (NZ time) to join other family members searching for missing relatives.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokesman James Kember said High Commisioner Jonathan Hunt will sign the Book of Remembrance at City Hall tonight.

The London High Commission is to close its crisis room today, but MFAT's 0800 enquiry number (0800 432 111) will remain in operation.

Mr Kember said 600 of the 2100 New Zealanders registered as being in London still remain unaccounted for, but MFAT was only seriously concerned about the missing woman.

The ministry is urging New Zealanders to contact them if they have not been able to get in touch with relatives or friends believed to be in the London area at the time of the attacks.

"We also want call backs from those who have reported such a case but have since made contact with that individual," Mr Kember said.

The missing New Zealand woman has not been named, but she is believed to have lived in London for several years and held dual New Zealand and Irish citizenship.

The woman's parents requested her name and other details not be released, and New Zealand authorities would not confirm a report that she is a 26-year-old with family in Christchurch.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday it was impossible to rule out the possibility that more New Zealanders may be missing or killed after the bomb attacks on London's transport system.

"We simply don't know whether other names will all be cleared and so we can't say we are out of the woods until the full body discovery process by the British government has run its course," Helen Clark said.

Recovery work was continuing in a mangled carriage on the Piccadilly Line of the underground system -- which the New Zealand woman was understood to be riding -- in temperatures of up to 60 degrees C.

The Piccadilly Line is one of the deepest tunnels in the network.

- NZPA