Tsunami survivor describes underwater horror
By Karen Kaufman
"Our boat was lucky. We saw a cruise liner stuck near the islands with three people dead," said Londoner Naomi Hayim from her boat off the coast of Phuket yesterday.
Hayim, who is deaf, and 13 other people (including another deaf person) were diving at Richelieu Rock, a collection of submerged pinnacles renowned for its visiting whale sharks north of the Surin Islands (about 60 kilometers off the west coast of Phang Nga province) when the tsunami hit.
"We realized that the wave went right over us as we were diving," she said yesterday via SMS messaging on her cell phone. She said the giant wave created a whirlpool with incredibly strong currents. The divers were swept under, completely losing each other and severely hampered by poor visibility. All 14 eventually surfaced and found each other, though an exhausted Hayim could not be certain yesterday how long they had actually been submerged. Luckily all 14 were unharmed.
To read rest of article, go here:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/519302.html
Nancy
By Karen Kaufman
"Our boat was lucky. We saw a cruise liner stuck near the islands with three people dead," said Londoner Naomi Hayim from her boat off the coast of Phuket yesterday.
Hayim, who is deaf, and 13 other people (including another deaf person) were diving at Richelieu Rock, a collection of submerged pinnacles renowned for its visiting whale sharks north of the Surin Islands (about 60 kilometers off the west coast of Phang Nga province) when the tsunami hit.
"We realized that the wave went right over us as we were diving," she said yesterday via SMS messaging on her cell phone. She said the giant wave created a whirlpool with incredibly strong currents. The divers were swept under, completely losing each other and severely hampered by poor visibility. All 14 eventually surfaced and found each other, though an exhausted Hayim could not be certain yesterday how long they had actually been submerged. Luckily all 14 were unharmed.
To read rest of article, go here:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/519302.html
Nancy
and glad ur alright!
)