Holiday pictures reveal terrible toll of Tsunami disaster (From Western Telegraph)

Holiday pictures reveal terrible toll of Tsunami disaster

Mike Watson has taken hundreds of holiday snaps in the past. But nothing could have prepared him for the pictures he would be taking in Phuket on Boxing Day.

They show people trying to escape flooding after the Tsunami, debris on the beach including a shop's mannequin and the roots of a tree, from which several feet of sand were stripped by the tidal wave.

Mike and Cilla Watson, of Coombes Drive, who were on a SAGA holiday, were in the hotel pool on Boxing Day when the first indication came that there was something wrong.

"We heard a lot of noise and people shouting and then a Russian came running and told us to get out of the pool," said Mr Watson

"We saw white water in a big swell coming through the trees and people, furniture and even a van being swept along."

The impact of the tsunami was lessened by the fact that the hotel was protected by the trees and the ground between it and the beach are undulating.

Mr Watson and the Russian helped fellow hotel guests and at one stage found themselves waist-deep in water and sewage.

The beach area was devastated. Cafes, waterside businesses, fridges, furniture, cars - everything in the tidal wave's path - were washed away.

Most hotel guests were lucky. They were traumatised or slightly hurt and some lost possessions.

But one 75-year-old holidaymaker, escaping with his own life, found his partner was missing.

Mr and Mrs Watson remained an extra day in Bangkok with the man so they could speak to the missing woman's son.