Kiwi Anton Zanetich saved dozens

After a week of shock, trauma and now despair in one of the worst ever human tragedies, the front-line heroes are starting to emerge. Heroes like Kiwi Anton Zanetich.

The 46-year-old was one of the few that ran towards the waves as they unleashed their devastating fury on Thailand a week ago. With little regard for his own safety, Mr Zanetich managed to pull dozens of helpless people to safety at Kamala Beach, the worst affected stretch of coast in Phuket.

It was the second wave that forced him to retreat to safety. Then, when he had done all he could for the living, and the waters had receded, he entered the ruins of the popular seaside resort to do what he could for the dead. Among them, a friend's three-month-old daughter.

Her body was found almost a kilometre from her beachfront home, cushioned among the carnage by the bodies of others. Her body was identified from photographs taken at Christmas dinner the night before, and she was cremated on Friday night.

"Nothing prepares you for this," said Mr Zanetich, a former Royal New Zealand Navy special operations diver who now lives in Singapore. Having recovered bodies while in the Navy, the former Wellington man became a deep sea diver, often working off the coast of West Africa.

"It was like someone dropped a bomb. We were running round trying to help people, dazed people everywhere stumbling around, and you just get in there and start dragging people out.

"You're speechless. If you can picture Hiroshima, that's what it was like. I know what the Japanese felt like," he said. "We were just pulling people out, trying to find survivors, getting the injured to hospitals and treating them."

Mr Zanetich thought he'd experienced a lot in his life. Now, his eyes fill with tears, his body shakes, when he recalls the awful experience of the past week.

On Boxing Day morning, he should have been on the beach, or in his favoured waterside breakfast cafe, but had a few drinks over Christmas dinner and didn't feel up to it. With friends, he drove into Kamala later than usual, missing the first tidal wave. The first sign of trouble was a stream of people running for safety, and a body washing across the road.

"Everyone was running and we started to pull people out," he said.

Standing among the ruins of the devastated town, he showed how the water had picked up bricks, planks, glass and roofing material.

"This was all debris and you had to fight through it. We were pulling people out of the debris," he said.

With a friend, Briton Phil Hoff, they moved off the road to collapsed homes, searching for survivors. "We came out looking like mud monsters."

Above them, on the hills surrounding the beaches, survivors gathered as the waters receded. Mr Zanetich and Mr Hoff and a handful of others worked on. Then another wave came, and the pair turned to run. A moped tearing past slowed next to Mr Hoff, who leapt on the back. As the wave gathered debris and headed inland, he turned back to Mr Zanetich, who shouted: "Go, just go."

A tide mark on a wall shows the water charged through beyond head height, and stayed long enough to leave its mark.

After the waters receded, it was back to the rescue for Mr Zanetich. The wounded were taken to the hills, and a small camp was set for the night.

"We were waiting for the cavalry," he said. But help didn't come for three days.

The next morning, Mr Zanetich went back to work. It was a recovery job - there were no more survivors to be found. But the smell of Kamala Beach tells him even now there are still bodies to be found.

"We gave up when the army turned up. We had had enough," he said.

"It certainly shakes your foundation, even of the strongest people. I've spent 30 years on the sea, since I was 16. I've seen the power and the fury but nothing compares to this. It's a lot to take in. The first couple of days you're just shaking.

"The first day, the first few hours ... I'll never forget it. It makes sleeping very hard."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY