A British mother and son who survived the storming of a Moscow theatre taken over by Chechen rebels have been reunited after being discharged from hospital.

Language student Richard Low, from Southgate, north London, and his mother Sidica were confirmed as "safe" after the incident, although Mr Low, 20, was kept in hospital overnight for treatment.

Our correspondent in Moscow says the pair have been now been reunited with Mrs Low's husband Peter who had been released earlier by the rebels because of ill health.

Rebel leader Movsar Barayev was killed in the gun battle

Mrs Low had been treated in hospital and was subsequently looked after in the British embassy.

Many of the families and friends of the hostages freed from the theatre are still trying to find out where their loved ones are being treated.

Some of those who have managed to track down their relatives say they are being prevented from visiting them.

Peter Low, a 59-year-old retired advertising executive, spent two days after being freed waiting for the crisis to end.

A British embassy spokesman said their priority had been to reunite the family as quickly as possible.

The family had been among the audience of the Russian musical Nord-Ost on Wednesday when the siege began.

Advice to Britons

After a three-day stand-off, hundreds of heavily-armed Russian troops stormed the building at about 0600 local time after the rebels began executing their captives.

At least 90 hostages and 50 rebels were killed in the raid and its aftermath, the Russian health ministry has announced.

The death toll could rise yet further, correspondents say, with 450 of the freed captives being treated in hospital, scores of them seriously injured.

Many hostages were unconscious and others had difficulties breathing, apparently as a result of gas pumped into the building by special forces to quell the guerrillas.

In the light of the theatre siege, the Foreign Office says it has no intelligence that further terrorist attacks are likely in Moscow but it is advising Britons to be on their guard in crowded places.

The Foreign Office advice remains against all travel to Chechnya, but vigilance is also recommended in the rest of the Russian Federation.