THE family of a Corsham couple missing in Tunisia after Friday's shootings say they are "expecting the worst".

Mr Welch, 74, from Corsham, and his partner Eileen Swannack, 70, were staying at the RIU Imperial Marhaba, which was one of the hotels attacked in Sousse - a place they “adore.”

The pair, who have been a couple for eight years, arrived in the resort on Tuesday and were due to stay for a week, but they have not made contact with relatives since the massacre.

Mr Welch's grandson Daniel Welch, 29, who lives in Swindon, said as time goes on their hopes are fading.

He added: “You know that we're going to get some sort of news at some point, whether it be today, tomorrow or the next day, and you know it's probably not going to be great, because they haven't been able to make contact themselves by now.

“But it's just that not knowing.”

He said: “Upon that you then start thinking 'Why that resort? Why the holidaymakers? Why this place? What was the reasons?' You get all sorts of things running through your mind.”

John Welch, who used to be a plumber, is very fond of Tunisia, and he and Ms Swannack actually went to the same hotel twice a year for the last eight years.

Daniel said: “They like the area. They like the hotel. They like the staff. They adore the place.”

He said, knowing what they like to do on holiday, it would have been likely that they were on the beach or at the pool.

He said Ms Swannack is good at keeping in touch with family when they are away and said Friday night would be a night that she would be particularly likely to give them a call.

Asked if they had been enjoying the holiday, Daniel said: “The last we heard, absolutely. They said that the weather was very hot. They said that they were seeing familiar stuff because they go there so much.”

They were saying that they were having a “great time,” he added.

Daniel spoke of the frustration the family is feeling regarding the amount of information and assistance they are getting.

He said dealing with holiday firm Thomson was “really quite frustrating,” and said the Foreign Office put him through to the consulate in Tunisia which told him the rapid deployment team would gather information at the hotel before going to hospitals.

The hotel has told the family that the couple are not at the hotel, but that they have not checked out.

Daniel said the hardest thing is “not knowing,” and said of how the family are feeling: “We are at a bit of a loss and we can only expect the worst.”