THAILAND
Canadians Gobeil and Francois had traveled to the island of Koh Phi Phi, where they were working on becoming scuba instructors. They were just getting on the dive boat with eight others when, without warning, the first wave hit.
"The water at the pier is 18 meters (60 feet) deep, so there was no warning," she said. "The wave just came up. It was 9 meters (30 feet) high. My boyfriend yelled to run, but I froze and could not run."
She managed to hold on to the railing of the pier until the metal broke loose in her hands. Tossed around “like a rag doll in a washing machine,” she was pulled to the surface three times while in the wave while at he same time being pushed onto one side of a mountain and through a bamboo hut full of people that were washed away alongside her.
Eventually she ended up on the roof of the dive operation’s compressor shed about 12 meters (400 feet) away with electric cables wrapped around her wrist and unable to walk.
Her partner, Francois, suffered severe cuts after he was flung through debris of trees, furniture and construction on the side of another mountain landing next to several dead Thai children in a schoolyard. Eventually, Francois and Gobeil were united and, after spending the night in the jungle, they were airlifted by helicopter to Phuket.
Two Serbian divers on vacation in Thailand say they survived the deadly tsunami because they chose to go diving rather than sunbathe on the beach.
"We are alive thanks to scuba diving, because the high cliffs surrounding the remote bay on Thailand's Phi Phi island softened the impact of the giant waves.”
Whether the waves were softened or not, their boat, with three other tourists and a guide, was overturned by the mass of water and they were washed onto high ground. They survived on coconuts on the top of a hill for 30 hours before being rescued.
Open Letters About the Tsunamis
MALDIVES
British divers Matthew Oliver and Emma Simcox were forced down to 38 meters (125 feet) by wild cross currents when the tsunami rolled over them while diving off of Hakuraa, the Maldives’ most southerly island. They eventually managed an emergency ascent, sharing air, and returned to Hakuraa, to find their beach bungalow destroyed and their few remaining possessions stolen.
"When we reached our island there was debris everywhere -rubbish, bottles, trees, lamps from beach bungalows. The roof had been ripped off the restaurant and there was a boat in the trees. People were covered in blood. The husband of one injured woman told me that his wife had been dragged underwater and had her skin ripped off by broken glass and coral.”
A Pakistan Navy destroyer eventually rescued the couple.
George Chinn was down about 15 meters (50 feet) diving off the coastline of Meru, an hour from Male, when the main 9-meter (30-foot) wall of water surged over him. He was forced to cling to the reef as the huge surge threatened to drag him out to sea. He surfaced to wood and lifejackets floating in the water.
"The whole thing lasted only a few minutes, but it was not until we got back to the island that we realized the scale of what had happened.
Greg and Deirdre Stegman, retired diving instructors from Queensland, were about a half mile offshore of Faru diving at 18 meters (60 feet) when they were suddenly sucked down to 27 meters (90 feet) in a one-second underwater terror ride. They held on to the reef to save their lives.
"We would have gone down another 9 to 18 meters (30 to 60 feet) if we had not held on to the reef," he said. They had no idea what was happening.
On the boat ride out, they had noticed the currents were particularly strong that morning, which was unusual. Once in water, along with six other experienced divers from France, Switzerland, and the UK, the current completely changed direction, sweeping all the divers in one direction for seven to eight minutes at about five knots.
Then, after about five minutes, the strong current changed direction and sucked the divers back in the other direction. Mr. Stegman said the diving party managed somehow to keep together by holding on to their diving buddies.
"Every now and again we'd see the other divers come past us and they'd disappear again.”
Somehow their diving boat remained intact and it was able to take them back to the shore.
A divemaster on the live-aboard Manthiri reports that their boat met the wave at Vaavu Atoll with no damage. He described the wave as like nothing he had ever seen in his lifetime.
“When the wave flowed in, the tiny islands were consumed and when it ebbed, the reefs, normally several meters under the water, were naked and visible.”
Reported by Jeroen Deknatel, Managing Director, Fantasea Divers - Ocean Rover Cruises
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