'It was like being in a washing machine'

A Blenheim mother, her voice shaky with relief, told today of her daughter being caught in Sunday's tsunami and thrown around like a rag in a washing machine.

Fay Jones' daughter, Vanessa Martin, is in hospital in Phuket with serious foot injuries. But if the woman in the next room at her beachfront hotel had not started screaming and woken her on Sunday, things would have been much worse.

When she did awake, a wall of water washed over the room "and the next minute they were up to the ceiling", Mrs Jones said. "She said it was like being in a washing machine."

When the water washed out again, Ms Martin's leg was opened up from ankle to toe and a man had to use his tog cord as a tourniquet, said Mrs Jones, who finally spoke to her daughter last night after pacing the floor for days.

In the days since the tsunami and since a three-hour operation on her foot, Ms Martin has seen the horrendous impact of the disaster, with dead babies, people missing limbs and a woman with half her face missing.

"She said she was just so lucky to be alive," said her mother.

She has vowed never to stay in a beachfront hotel again, and although a beach lover, told her mother she couldn't face one at the moment.

Ms Martin lives in England but was on her way home for a visit. She is still in hospital waiting for the embassy to get hold of her and help her get back to New Zealand.

A Christchurch woman camping at White's Bay in Marlborough was also relieved yesterday after hearing from her son in Phuket.

Lyndsay Lamb heard a remarkable tale of survival in an early morning phone call.

Dean Lamb and his fiance, Hannah Le Pine, were anchored off Phuket in their yacht, Risque Business, on the day of the tsunami.

They were motoring towards shore in a rubber dinghy when the first wave passed underneath them and smashed into the town.

The couple continued to what was left of the beach in an attempt to help.

Ms Le Pine gave up her place on the raft to enable Mr Lamb to pick up a wounded local.

She then saw another wall of water bearing down on the beach, and ran for her life.

She was in turn saved by a group of Thais who picked her up in a truck and raced her to higher ground.

- NZPA