Angela Glover, from Brighton, disappeared after an undersea volcano erupted near the South Pacific island on Saturday, sending large tsunami waves crashing across its shores.

The 50-year-old's family and friends had appealed for information on her whereabouts, with Facebook posts stating that Mrs Glover and her husband, James, went home to collect their dogs when the tsunami hit.

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Ms Glover's brother, Nick Eleini, said the family is "devastated" by her death and has asked for time to grieve.

"I haven't got the words in my vocabulary to even describe how we're feeling at the moment," he told Sky News.

"This is just a terrible shock that's happened to us. We're ordinary people, stuff like this doesn't happen to people like us, but then, it does."

Mr Eleini said his sister had been found during a search organised by her husband and that he had received confirmation during his journey back to the UK from Australia, where he now lives.

He said: "Angela and James loved their life in Tonga and adored the Tongan people, in particular the Tongan love of family and the Tongan culture."

Ms Glover had set up the charity TAWS - Tonga Animal Welfare Society - on the island and was a huge animal lover.

"The uglier the dog the more she loved it," her brother said.

Mr Eleini added: "She was beautiful. She was absolutely a ray of sunshine. She would walk into a room and just lighten a room up."

Mr Glover is an experienced tattoo artist and runs his own business in Nuku'alofa, the country's capital.

Mr Eleini, who lives in Sydney, said he came back to the UK to be with his mother because he is now "her only biological child".

"She really needs me," he said.

New Zealand and Australia have now been able to send military surveillance flights to Tonga to assess the damage.

A towering ash cloud since Saturday's eruption had prevented flights from leaving earlier than Monday.

New Zealand hopes to send essential supplies, including much-needed drinking water, on a military transport plane on Tuesday.

No other casualties, apart from Mrs Glover, have been confirmed.

Unicef Pacific also said it was ready to transport emergency supplies to Tonga, including water, sanitation, hygiene kits, water containers and buckets, water field test kits, tarpaulins, recreational kits and tents.