Tsunami memorial reading by movie legend

Film director Richard Attenborough, who lost his daughter and grand-daughter in the Asian tsunami, will tomorrow lead an emotional service in memory of those affected by the disaster.

Lord Attenborough has not spoken publicly about his loss since 14-year-old Lucy, her 49-year-old mother Jane and her mother-in-law Jane Holland were swept away by the giant wave.

The 81-year-old will give the only Bible reading during the hour-long service at St Paul's where more than 1,800 people will gather to pay their respects to the dead and injured. Lord Attenborough's three relatives had been enjoying a two-week holiday with other members of the family at a holiday home next to a beach in Kao Lak in Thailand, which they had just bought. The area was the country's worst affected by the wave, which experts have estimated had a force equivalent to a fifth of the power of a nuclear bomb.

Lord Attenborough will be joined in mourning by the Queen, Tony Blair and representatives of 11 of the 12 countries hit. The centrepiece of the service will be an act of remembrance in which 11 members of bereaved British families will each join a representative of one of the affected countries to carry candles and flowers to be laid at the altar.

The procession will be followed by two minutes' silence during which 273,800 petals - one for each person killed - will fall from the galleries and dome of St Paul's. The petals have been chosen to represent each of the countries affected by the tsunami, with jasmine for Indonesia and Burma, waterlilies for Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bangladesh, lotus for India, pink rose of the Maldives, protea for Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia, orchid for the Seychelles and hibiscus for Malaysia.

The service will include a sermon from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, a traditional Thai lament and personal accounts of the tragedy. Of the 150 British families to have lost loved ones, 126 will be represented at the service, with a further 51 UK-based families who have lost relatives of other nationalities also expected to attend.

Some 54 Britons who survived with severe injuries will also be present. They include Tio Burnett, a 32-year-old events manager who narrowly escaped the tsunami with her husband and sister by climbing to a second floor bar. She said: "It will be very difficulty for all of us and I am sure I and many others will be crying as we remember what we all went through and lost."

The Department of Culture Media and Sport, which has arranged the service, said leading members of all the religions affected would be represented, as well as the major charities involved in relief work.

The service will be screened live on BBC2 from 3.15pm.