Tsunami escape

Richard de Gottal says he is lucky to be alive after the giant wave engulfed his beach front hotel, killing other guests, leaving the ground floor underwater and crashing a boat and a car into the reception.

Mr de Gottal, 34, of Pilgrims Walk, Worthing, who was asleep in his first-floor room when the huge tidal wave struck, said: "I remember this almighty bang and crash. I thought, 'what the hell was that?'

"At first I thought it was a bomb. The floor was completely covered in water and debris. Everything was just smashed. There were tables, chairs and cupboards strewn all over the place."

In "complete disbelief," the father-of-one clambered over the devastation in reception to help pull people down from rooftops they had climbed to avoid the floods.

He said: "I saw dead bodies on the beach, next to shops and trapped under bits of wood.

"Everyone was just running around yelling and screaming. It was complete mayhem. I was just helping people around me."

Moments later someone told Mr de Gottal a second tsunami was coming so he rushed back to the hotel and smashed a security box submerged in water to collect his soaking passport and money.

"It was very surreal because 100 yards along the road bars and restaurants were open as normal."

Mr de Gottal, who was met by counsellors when he landed at Heathrow yesterday, said his decision to scrap an early morning scuba dive in favour of a lie-in saved his life.

He said: "If I'd gone out diving or sunbathing on the beach it would have been a different story. I wouldn't be here now."

It took him almost nine hours to phone frantic parents Margaret and Ren, who were waiting for news in Rustington, because his mobile phone battery was empty and other survivors had jammed the lines.

"I just said, 'it's me. I'm OK' and my mum said 'thank God you are alive. I have been so worried'."

Safe in a neighbouring resort, Mr de Gottal set about raising money, collecting blankets and fresh water for aid workers in the worst-hit Khao lak region, just a few kilometres north.

He recalled lines of cardboard coffins piled high and relatives desperately scanning picture boards next to them trying to identify the bloated bodies of loved ones.

"People were standing around crying. It was so tragic for those who had lost someone. Some bodies couldn't be easily identified because they were too bloated because people had swallowed so much water."

Mr de Gottal, who has since had the words 'blessed with luck 26.12.04' tattooed in Thai onto his left arm, said the terrifying experience had changed his outlook on life.

He said: "I am just so lucky to be alive. Now I just want to see my parents and my five-year-old daughter Olivia."