Eyewitness: It was Jurgen Hegel's refusal to wear sunblock during a Christmas Day game of beach football that saved him from the devastating tsunami at Khao Lak beach.
"I was basically a burnt piece of toast, so I decided to go for a walk in the forest that morning to escape the sun," he said. After breakfast Mr Hegel, a 36-year-old wine merchant from Cologne, set off inland from his hotel. When the tsunami struck, he was about 500 metres from the beach, trying to buy a coconut from a farmer.
"We both heard the roar of the sea, the screams of the people on the beach and then the crash, crash, crash as the water smashed into the coast and everything in its path," he said. "Then I saw the water coming through the trees and so we turned and ran as fast as we could until we got to slightly higher land."
It took 15 minutes to walk just 500 metres back to the hotel.
"It was an obstacle course of uprooted trees, boats that had been washed ashore, concrete from buildings, glass from smashed windows, and bodies," Mr Hegel said.
"I cannot remember how many bodies I passed. There must have been well over 100. There were tourists and locals. They were slammed against trees, wrapped around each other as if hugging and buried under blocks of concrete.
"There were also lots of injured people, crying for help. I just kept on walking. I was in a daze. I wanted to find out what had happened to my friends, to my clothes.
"The part of the hotel where my room had been was destroyed, flattened. I couldn't even have begun to look for my clothes. As for my friends, they've gone. All six of them. I can't believe it. They were great guys."
There were no official figures for the number of Germans killed, but estimates show 100 German nationals are missing. The death toll for French nationals reached 14, and 11 Americans were confirmed dead, while the UK confirmed 18 of its citizens were killed, including the 14-year-old grand-daughter of actor and film director Lord Richard Attenborough. Sweden reported 1,500 citizens missing, the Czech Republic almost 400, Finland 200 and Italy 100. - (Guardian Service, Reuters)