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Phuket Disaster latest
Tourists tell of their tidal wave ordeal
PHUKET: Swedish tourist Kjell Sk=F6ld, of Gothenburg, has described how the rising waters of the wave trapped him, his wife, Bibi, and their young children in their bungalow at Andaman Bay Resort, at Bang Tao. "The water went out then came back in very, very quickly, taking everything with it," said Mr Sk=F6ld. "When the water came into the bungalow, we put everything on the beds ... all the windows were closed, so the water kept pushing everything up towards the roof. "It pushed us up to the roof, then the roof came off and we floated away." After being washed down to land, Mr and Mrs Sk=F6ld managed to get their seven-year-old daughter, Stephanie, to safety in a high cement building, but then realized that their 10-year-old son, Sebastian, was missing. He was found a few minutes later, about 200 meters away, sitting in a tree the flood had swept him to. "I can't put into words what it feels like to be missing your son," said Mr Sk=F6ld. He added that the family were four days into a three-week holiday. "We were supposed to be going to Koh Lanta today, but we've lost everything. This is all we have," said Mr Skoll holding up a 15-liter backpack. Marie Holmberg, her husband Henrik and her parents Denis and Gun Larsson went to see the chaos caused by the the first wave to hit Karon Beach ... and found themselves caught up in the second wave. "We were standing there taking pictures and the wave started coming back, faster and faster, so we started to run away, faster and faster, but my parents didn't run fast enough," said Mrs Holmberg, from Sweden. The wave knocked Mr and Mrs Larsson over, and they were hit by rubbish floating in the water, but they were well enough to make their own way to Phuket International Hospital for Mr Larsson to be treated for a badly damaged toe and other cuts and bruises. A member of staff at Bangkok Phuket Hospital said that at least 50 victims of the wave were taken to the hospital within an hour and a half of the wave hitting the island, but she said it was too early to confirm the numbers of injured - or the number of dead. PHUKET: An unconfirmed 22 people have died and more than 1,000 people have sought refuge at the Phuket Provincial Office in Phuket City after Phuket's coast was swamped by a tidal surge caused by an earthquake off Sumatra this morning. Waters off Phuket surged onto land, washing away homes on the east coast and causing damage at resorts all along the west coast. The Gazette has received an unconfirmed report that 22 people have died, 19 of them were at Patong. Patong resident and Gazette columnist Woody Leonard reported, "A giant wave went up the beach, at least as far up as Beach Rd ... People were running from the beach as fast as they could. The beach is devastated ... There were a lot of people on the beach, [and they were] swept away by the wave." The waters reached as far inland as the Club Andaman Resort, some 150 meters inland. The Gazette received a separate report that several people at Kalim, in Thalang, were killed in the surge, though that report has yet to be confirmed. Kawee Sukunthamath, Chief of the Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM), has told the Gazette that homes along the east and west coasts are being evacuated as a precaution in anticipation of an aftershock expected to arrive at about 3 pm. A warning has been issued on local radio stations asking people to stay away from the beaches until further notice. All flights inbound and outbound from Phuket International Airport have been canceled until further notice, and the Sarasin and Tao Thepkrasattri Bridges, the only roads on and off the island, have also been closed as a precaution Wachira Phuket Hospital has reported two dead, both Thai, and has admitted 56 injured people, two of them foreigners. At 11 am, Phuket International Hospital confirmed that at least 10 people had been admitted for serious injuries, and that many more were expected to arrive. At Bangkok Phuket Hospital, many other injured people had been received, though a total could not be provided. At Khao Khat, on the east coast, waters reached up to about 300 meters inland, washing coastal homes and vehicles away. People were holding on to whatever they could to stop from being swept away. K=2E Kawee said that the tremors were also felt in Phang Nga, Ranong, Krabi, Trang and Pattani. The Gazette has received a report that the surge left a Royal Thai Navy ship at Tab Lamu naval base beached. |
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