Ryedale family relives the horror of tidal wave tragedy (From Gazette & Herald)

Ryedale family relives the horror of tidal wave tragedy

A RYEDALE family who survived the devastating Asian tsunami have retold their harrowing story live on national television.

When the killer wave struck a tiny atoll in the Maldives, 15-year-old Emily Gibbons had to kick down a door to save her sisters from rising water in their bungalow.

The girls' grandmother was swept out to sea, and their mother and father had to scramble for their lives on to of a restaurant roof.

Since the disaster on Boxing Day, the Gibbons family, from Scagglethorpe, near Malton, have told of their traumatic ordeal to several regional and national newspapers, and on Monday appeared live on the Richard and Judy Show.

The family - Emily, a pupil at The Mount School, twin sisters Hannah and Steph, who are both 17 and attend Bootham School and The Mount, respectively, mum and dad Tony and Deb, both 44 - sat under studio lights before the cameras and recounted their tale.

They described how the tiny Maldives island lagoon was devastated by the wave, with sea bungalows ripped apart, and how Deb's mother Margaret Cowley, 75, was rescued from the sea.

Steph recounted the sadness of having to tell the wife and daughter of a Sri Lankan hotelier that his dead body had been washed up.

Along with the rest of the resort's guests, they were taken by boat to a neighbouring island that had not been so badly hit.

But Mrs Gibbons said it was 18 hours before a message got through that they needed rescuing.

They were later taken by tuna boat to a Pakistani Navy ship that ferried them to Male, the capital island of the Maldives.

Presenter Judy asked Hannah if she would ever return - and she answered that she definitely would because the native people were so kind and friendly, and because they did not deserve to lose their tourism trade.

Updated: 12:12 Wednesday, January 12, 2005