Tsunami
Reports are coming in from various sources regarding the tsunami that hit many Indian Ocean coasts. One of my favorite dive spots, Phuket in Thailand, was hit pretty hard. Below are a couple of ariel photographs of the damage. According to Reuters, several divers were killed in Phuket while exploring Emeral Cave.
Expats living in Thailand seem to be covering the story pretty well with contacts on the island giving spotty reports.
Touirsts tell of their tidal wave ordeal
PHUKET: Swedish tourist Kjell Sk�ld, of Gothenburg, has described how the rising waters of the wave trapped him, his wife, Bibi, and their young children in their bungalow at Andaman Bay Resort, at Bang Tao.
�The water went out then came back in very, very quickly, taking everything with it,� said Mr Sk�ld. �When the water came into the bungalow, we put everything on the beds � all the windows were closed, so the water kept pushing everything up towards the roof.
�It pushed us up to the roof, then the roof came off and we floated away.�
After being washed down to land, Mr and Mrs Sk�ld managed to get their seven-year-old daughter, Stephanie, to safety in a high cement building, but then realized that their 10-year-old son, Sebastian, was missing.
He was found a few minutes later, about 200 meters away, sitting in a tree the flood had swept him to. �I can�t put into words what it feels like to be missi ng your son,� said Mr Sk�ld.
He added that the family were four days into a three-week holiday. �We were supposed to be going to Koh Lanta today, but we�ve lost everything. This is all we have,� said Mr Skoll holding up a 15-liter backpack.
Marie Holmberg, her husband Henrik and her parents Denis and Gun Larsson went to see the chaos caused by the the first wave to hit Karon Beach � and found themselves caught up in the second wave.
�We were standing there taking pictures and the wave started coming back, faster and faster, so we started to run away, faster and faster, but my parents didn�t run fast enough,� said Mrs Holmberg, from Sweden.
The wave knocked Mr and Mrs Larsson over, and they were hit by rubbish floating in the water, but they were well enough to make their own way to Phuket International Hospital for Mr Larsson to be treated for a badly damaged toe and other cuts and bruises.
A member of staff at Bangkok Phuket Hospital said that at least 50 victims of the wave were taken to the hospital within an hour and a half of the wave hitting the island, but she said it was too early to confirm the numbers of injured � or the number of dead.
Brought to you by:
The Phuket Gazette
15:27 local time (GMT +7)www.phuketgazette.net
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