Resort: A Belfast couple on holiday in Thailand told yesterday how they escaped with their lives as a tidal wave struck their resort.
Mr Mark McBride and Ms Lisa Lavery from east Belfast said they were lucky to be alive after the boat on which they were passengers avoided one of a series of massive waves triggered by the powerful undersea earthquake off the Sumatran coast.
Mr McBride said the tidal wave passed their boat and struck the port where the couple had departed. The port was now a scene of utter devastation.
"About half-an-hour out to sea, the captain told us to put on our life jackets," he told the BBC.
"A massive tidal wave was coming towards us. We could see it coming. Our boat was safe, but we watched as the tidal wave went past and hit the fishing village which we had just left."
The boat stayed at sea for six hours for fear of returning to port.They said the boat's captain feared going back into port in case it was washed ashore.
Mr McBride said other survivors had been spotted while at sea and were picked up. "While we were out at sea, our boat lifted four Swedish snorklers," he said. "One girl was badly injured as she had been swept onto the beach and swept back out to sea. She was with a group of 15 of which we picked up four, so she lost her boyfriend. There are just lots of people missing, lots of people injured, lots of chaos."
Meanwhile, Mr Michael Muldoon (20), from Lisnarick in Fermanagh, says his brother Stephen (36), sister-in-law Maggie, nephews Tom (5), and three-year-old Dan, who live in Sri Lanka, escaped unhurt when a tidal wave struck the village near where they were staying.
"My brother texted immediately to tell us he was OK, but they were all very lucky," Mr Muldoon told the Belfast Telegraph.
"They were in a house on high land and thank God they survived."