A New Zealander and father of eight has been killed in the Solomon Islands tsunami as he tried to save his aging parents.

Toma Espinosa, a Corrections Department official, was visiting his parents for the first time in 18 years when disaster struck yesterday following the magnitude 8 earthquake.

His eldest daughter, Juliet Toma, contacted Fairfax Media today for help, concerned about how to get her father's body home to New Zealand.

She said the family want help to get his body home and they wanted news of their tragedy announced so that grief at the news could be shared among his community.

The family had paid for Mr Espinosa to go to Gizo to see his aging parents. Yesterday they were all hit by the tsunami.

"Our dad was trying to save our grandmother, with dad's youngest brother. A second wave came and swept them out. Dad ended up drowning."

The grandmother is still missing, feared dead while the grandfather is in hospital in an unknown condition. The uncle had a cellphone and alerted family in Honiara, the Solomons capital. The Espinosas have been trying to get official help since hearing the news.

"Basically we are just waiting, we want him home."

Mr Espinosa is originally from the Gilbert Islands, now Kiribati. His father was moved to Gizo in the 1950s to help set up a school for i-Kiribati people already there.

Juliet's father came to New Zealand 34 years ago to get his Merchant Navy qualifications. Pacnews