Travel agents Elaine and Rod Warwick Simpson were on a
boat trip off Patong Beach when the tsunami hit. The couple, who
run Progress Travel in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, were in
Thailand after winning flights with Singapore Airlines through a
trade promotion. Here is her account of what
happened
We decided to go on a boat trip on Boxing Day to Raya to get away
from hectic Patong Beach.
The trip was running 15 minutes behind schedule, which turned out
to be a godsend. If it had been on time, we would have been landing
when the tsunami hit.
A quarter of a mile out, the water got very choppy and the boatmen
started talking excitedly. I was frightened, but my husband said we
were safe and not to panic – afterwards he admitted it was
all lies.
Six or seven waves came in and the boatmen said it was too
dangerous to land. We headed back to Phuket town, which has a deep
port, and were told by the tourist police to run inland.
We asked a tuk-tuk driver to take us to Patong – but were
told no-one could go there. Instead, he took us up a hill five
miles away where police had commandeered houses as relief stations.
We joined 50 other tourists and local people.
Someone had a web-enabled phone and checked the CNN and BBC news.
An off-duty policemen kept us informed and when it became clear
what had happened, everyone was stunned. One American girl did not
know where her father was.
At 5pm we got a tuk-tuk back to Patong, through Kata Beach and
Kharon Beach, passing demolished buildings and cars floating in
swimming pools.
The hotel power was still on but we couldn’t get through on
the phone. We sent text messages to tell our families we were
okay.
The hotel became a refugee station and soup kitchen, serving basic
food. Behind it, a morgue was set up and body bags were brought in
all day. We couldn’t get through to the airline on the phone,
but we found out on the Internet that our flight, on December 28,
was still operating. We returned home, thinking how tenuous life
is. If the boat hadn’t been late, there is no doubt
we’d have been dead.
- How did the industry react? See this week’s Travel
Weekly.