An inquest into the death of 93 Britons who died in the Boxing Day tsunami will be opened in west London today.

The West London Coroner, Alison Thompson, will begin proceedings at a special court hearing, expected to last four days, set up at the Olympia Exhibition Centre in Kensington.

By law, an inquest must be held if the body of a Briton is repatriated after a sudden, violent, or unnatural death.

Although 141 Britons were killed in the tsunami, only 93 bodies were brought back to the UK.

Police and forensics experts have still not identified six British victims.

In total, the disaster claimed the lives of 200,000 people along coastline in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Maldives.

Because of the number of individual cases being heard, the time allocated to each death has been restricted, and the families of many victims are not expected to attend the court.

Each case is expected to take no more than 15 minutes, during which time the name and identity of the dead person will be recorded, along with the place, time and manner of death.

Although some families have written tributes to their loved ones, these will be read out by court staff or police officers.

The coroner, who also held inquests for victims of the Bali bombings, is expected to hear from police and medical experts, as is usual, together with geological experts.