But Shane Tomlin's family just want to know if their beloved baker boy is alive.

In video footage taken by a photographer for Christchurch's Press newspaper, Mr Tomlin, 42, is shown being pulled from the wreckage of the Trocadero bakery in the destroyed strip of shops on Cashel Mall by two unknown men in the frantic moments after the earthquake. A rescuer's hand cradles his head and he is groaning.

But his family have still not been able to find him and fear for his safety.

Sister Karen Franicevic said she first heard that her brother had been rescued in a frantic call from her sister, saying: ''He's online, he's online.''

But after the initial relief that he wasn't trapped in the building, the family became increasingly worried after South Island hospitals had no record of him.

''Last thing I know he was left in Cashel Street while they looked for an ambulance,'' Ms Franicevic said.

''We don't know what happened after that … we just want to know where he is now.''

Mother Doreen Tomlin said the family had a glimmer of hope after a friend who is a nurse checked Christchurch hospital records last night to find what she thought was his name, spelt incorrectly. ''There wasn't a 'D' beside him, a 'D' for deceased, so he was still alive.''

She had a message for her son: ''We are going to tell him next time he wants his five minutes of fame, not to do it quite so dramatically.''

Mr Tomlin became a ''baker boy'' as soon as he left school, aged 15, and had worked at the family-owned bakery for many years as a pastry chef.

The six other staff working in the bakery at the time of the quake have been accounted for.

MARLBOROUGH EXPRESS