but one part of this story makes zero sense to me at all. She was diving at 50 ft, got washed up a hillside. She then started using her cell phone to text message.
Cell phone? Who the hell takes a cell phone down with them? Better yet, how? I don't even take mine on the boat, can't imagine wanting to have something utterly useless like a phone cluttering up my gear while I'm down.
Anyways, here's the report:
Source
urviors Stories
By ANDY RUSSELL
A BRITISH survivor was hit by the killer tsunami while diving 50ft below water.
The force of the monster wave threw Amy Harding and fellow scuba divers halfway up a hillside on the Thai island of Ko Phi Phi.
Amy, 24, raised the alarm with her family in the UK by sending them TEXT messages on her mobile phone.
But for more than a day she was frantic with worry about boyfriend Evya, who had disappeared.
Yesterday she was finally rescued from the hillside — and discovered that Israeli Evya was safe and well.
Diving instructor Amy, from Neston on the Wirral, Cheshire, was taking a group on a regular dive when they were churned up in the massive current and washed up the hillside.
They managed to scramble on to a hotel roof where they waited for help, surrounded by water.
Brother Mike, 27, received her first text, sent at 2.10pm local time on Sunday. The trainee accountant was spending Christmas at home with their parents Frank, 78, and Elisabeth, 62.
The text read: “Island hit by tidal wave. Am OK. Was diving. Caught in major current, part of island destroyed. Not seen Evya. Sat on a hotel roof with ocean either side. Am OK though. x”
Mike said: “I phoned her back straight away. She was very shaken.”
In a second message sent at 5.17pm local time Amy said: “Think we’ll stay up here overnight and get bitten to death instead. So worried about Evya.
"At least I’m safe here. Love you all.”
In a third message, at 10.50pm, Amy said: “I’m so worried, so scared. Here till daylight and then risk going down. I’m so worried about Evya.”
Yesterday Amy was rescued by Thai emergency teams and taken to a hotel.
Mike said: “She was crying and desperately searching for Evya. Then she spotted him helping survivors — she was absolutely ecstatic.”
Mum Elisabeth said: “Amy just told me she was safe, well and very tired. I burst into tears.”
Andrew Oliver, 38, and partner Louise, 37, from Bournemouth, were due to go diving off Thailand but had to cancel because the boat was full.
Many who took the trip are missing feared dead.
British nurse Karen Goh almost drowned in Thailand — then immediately began helping other victims.
Karen, 38, from Wolverhampton, and Malaysian hubby Cheh were swamped on the beach in Patong, Phuket. She said: “It was like being in a washing machine.
“People had stomachs broken open, limbs smashed. I’d injured my foot but tried to staunch their wounds.
“Eventually I moved to a higher building — and found my husband.”
Brenda Castle, 61, from North London, was trapped in a hotel basement near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo when the huge wave struck.
Brenda, on holiday at the Tangerine Beach Hotel with husband Jeff, 61, said: “I saw a massive amount of swirling muddy water heading for me. I thought I was going to die.”
Thirty terrified Brits were marooned on a tiny hillock near Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka yesterday — where 10,200 died — and surrounded by CROCODILES.
The holidaymakers, on a diving trip, fled to the high ground when the first wave hit. But they were left stranded.
Michelle Mills, 36, a marketing manager from Bromsgrove, Worcs, is there with partner Stewart Porter, 32.
She used the group’s only mobile to call home saying 28 were badly hurt and three were in life-threatening condition.
Her brother, policeman Edward Mills, 37, said: “They are trapped on a tiny patch of ground while the floods rage past, carrying bodies and debris. And now the crocs are there too.
"My sister sounded absolutely terrified — and so am I, for her safety.”
T. Velumyli, 59, a Sri Lankan from Richmond, Surrey, said: “My cousin clung to a floating tree while his wife was swept to her death at Batticaloa.
“He buried her with his hands then found the body of his nine-month-old baby who had been swept 50 miles away.
"This is what hell must be like.”
Wall of water hit me on beach
BRITON John Regan lies wounded in a hospital bed in Phuket last night — after telling how he was standing on a beach when the killer wave hit land.
John, who was in Thailand with girlfriend Rita Medve, said: “The sea started to go out at high speed. I saw on the horizon a huge wave. I said to Rita, ‘It’s not going to stop’. We dashed into a tiny shed at the top of the beach and seconds later the wall crashed in.
“I was knocked through the building on to the ground outside.”
John, of Chelmsford, Essex, climbed a tree to safety.
Teacher Ian Cooper, 32, of Kidderminster, opened his bedroom door to a wall of water. He said: “I was swept off my feet.”
A blond boy of two was in hospital alone after being found on a road.
Cell phone? Who the hell takes a cell phone down with them? Better yet, how? I don't even take mine on the boat, can't imagine wanting to have something utterly useless like a phone cluttering up my gear while I'm down.
Anyways, here's the report:
Source
urviors Stories
By ANDY RUSSELL
A BRITISH survivor was hit by the killer tsunami while diving 50ft below water.
The force of the monster wave threw Amy Harding and fellow scuba divers halfway up a hillside on the Thai island of Ko Phi Phi.
Amy, 24, raised the alarm with her family in the UK by sending them TEXT messages on her mobile phone.
But for more than a day she was frantic with worry about boyfriend Evya, who had disappeared.
Yesterday she was finally rescued from the hillside — and discovered that Israeli Evya was safe and well.
Diving instructor Amy, from Neston on the Wirral, Cheshire, was taking a group on a regular dive when they were churned up in the massive current and washed up the hillside.
They managed to scramble on to a hotel roof where they waited for help, surrounded by water.
Brother Mike, 27, received her first text, sent at 2.10pm local time on Sunday. The trainee accountant was spending Christmas at home with their parents Frank, 78, and Elisabeth, 62.
The text read: “Island hit by tidal wave. Am OK. Was diving. Caught in major current, part of island destroyed. Not seen Evya. Sat on a hotel roof with ocean either side. Am OK though. x”
Mike said: “I phoned her back straight away. She was very shaken.”
In a second message sent at 5.17pm local time Amy said: “Think we’ll stay up here overnight and get bitten to death instead. So worried about Evya.
"At least I’m safe here. Love you all.”
In a third message, at 10.50pm, Amy said: “I’m so worried, so scared. Here till daylight and then risk going down. I’m so worried about Evya.”
Yesterday Amy was rescued by Thai emergency teams and taken to a hotel.
Mike said: “She was crying and desperately searching for Evya. Then she spotted him helping survivors — she was absolutely ecstatic.”
Mum Elisabeth said: “Amy just told me she was safe, well and very tired. I burst into tears.”
Andrew Oliver, 38, and partner Louise, 37, from Bournemouth, were due to go diving off Thailand but had to cancel because the boat was full.
Many who took the trip are missing feared dead.
British nurse Karen Goh almost drowned in Thailand — then immediately began helping other victims.
Karen, 38, from Wolverhampton, and Malaysian hubby Cheh were swamped on the beach in Patong, Phuket. She said: “It was like being in a washing machine.
“People had stomachs broken open, limbs smashed. I’d injured my foot but tried to staunch their wounds.
“Eventually I moved to a higher building — and found my husband.”
Brenda Castle, 61, from North London, was trapped in a hotel basement near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo when the huge wave struck.
Brenda, on holiday at the Tangerine Beach Hotel with husband Jeff, 61, said: “I saw a massive amount of swirling muddy water heading for me. I thought I was going to die.”
Thirty terrified Brits were marooned on a tiny hillock near Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka yesterday — where 10,200 died — and surrounded by CROCODILES.
The holidaymakers, on a diving trip, fled to the high ground when the first wave hit. But they were left stranded.
Michelle Mills, 36, a marketing manager from Bromsgrove, Worcs, is there with partner Stewart Porter, 32.
She used the group’s only mobile to call home saying 28 were badly hurt and three were in life-threatening condition.
Her brother, policeman Edward Mills, 37, said: “They are trapped on a tiny patch of ground while the floods rage past, carrying bodies and debris. And now the crocs are there too.
"My sister sounded absolutely terrified — and so am I, for her safety.”
T. Velumyli, 59, a Sri Lankan from Richmond, Surrey, said: “My cousin clung to a floating tree while his wife was swept to her death at Batticaloa.
“He buried her with his hands then found the body of his nine-month-old baby who had been swept 50 miles away.
"This is what hell must be like.”
Wall of water hit me on beach
BRITON John Regan lies wounded in a hospital bed in Phuket last night — after telling how he was standing on a beach when the killer wave hit land.
John, who was in Thailand with girlfriend Rita Medve, said: “The sea started to go out at high speed. I saw on the horizon a huge wave. I said to Rita, ‘It’s not going to stop’. We dashed into a tiny shed at the top of the beach and seconds later the wall crashed in.
“I was knocked through the building on to the ground outside.”
John, of Chelmsford, Essex, climbed a tree to safety.
Teacher Ian Cooper, 32, of Kidderminster, opened his bedroom door to a wall of water. He said: “I was swept off my feet.”
A blond boy of two was in hospital alone after being found on a road.