XML : How to get the LineNumber of the opening tag given the LineNumber of the closing tag

Given this sample xml node,

  <employee id="emp_1">      <fname>John</fname>      <lname>Doe</lname>  </employee>    

i can use the two given variables:

  lineNumber = 4;  colNumber = 12;    

if i would locate the position, it will be right after the closing tag,

  "</employee>"    

is it possible to get/return the lineNumber of the corresponding opening tag of employee node?

please help. Thanks