Irish tsunami survivors arrive home

There were tears of joy at Dublin airport today as some of the Irish tourists fleeing the devastated regions of South East Asia…

There were tears of joy at Dublin airport today as some of the Irish tourists fleeing the devastated regions of South East Asia made it home.

Four families spoke of their relief after welcoming back their daughters - Louise McClean, Adele Curry, Jackie Dunne and Angela Gahan - who were on holiday on the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi when the waves struck.

Louise, (26), told how the group of friends from Dublin stepped barefoot over bodies strewn across the sand to escape.

"We are lucky because our bungalow was beside a cliff and that gave us the chance we needed to get up to higher ground. We were asleep and it was like there was a train going over the bungalow. We didn't know what it was and we looked out the window and the Thai people were running up to the higher ground," she told RTE radio.

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"By the time we got out of the bungalow we were surrounded by water and we just had to jump in. We were lucky then the water kind of receded and it gave us a chance to get up on to higher ground," she added.

Several other tsunami survivors flew into Dublin airport both yesterday and today.

(PA)