Holidaymakers Gavin Anderson and Jo Coleman have told how they ran for their lives across a Thai beach to escape the tsunami which has claimed thousands of lives across 10 countries.

Gavin Anderson and Jo ColemanThe couple, of Binsey Lane, Oxford, were nearing the end of a three-week holiday in the Thai resort of Khao Lak, 40 miles north of the island of Phuket, when they found themselves at the centre of the biggest natural disaster in living memory.

They flew into Heathrow Airport on Tuesday night, still wearing the beach clothes they escaped in, to be met by Jo's tearful mother Averil, from Wantage.

They described how the earthquake 'sucked' the sea from the beach, before sending it crashing forward in a massive surge.

Mr Anderson, 41, a technical services manager for computer firm RM, of Milton Park, Didcot, described how he and Jo, a conference organiser, escaped.

He said: "We feel so lucky to be alive. Jo had gone down to the beach about 9.30am and I joined her about 10am, 20 minutes before the wave hit. We noticed that the tide was right out, much farther out than we had seen it before, and people were walking about where the water had been, taking pictures and looking at fish that had been washed up.

"Then we noticed that the water had risen out to sea and was coming in very quickly.

"Of course, we didn't have a clue that it was a tidal wave or that there had been an earthquake. But the water was suddenly really surging and we turned, grabbed our beach bag and began to run."

Mr Anderson described the five minutes of terror as he and his fiancee ran for their lives off the beach.

He said: "The locals, who were up above the beach, were shouting to us and all the other people on the beach, 'Run! run!'

"About 20 of us ran through our hotel, which was on several levels, and upwards out of the back of the hotel and through a banana plantation, which led to higher ground.

"As we ran, the water was crashing through the front of the hotel being built next door to ours. Scaffolding and other debris was clanking and crashing about."

The couple and their fellow escapees then watched from higher ground as the water engulfed the complex below.

Mr Anderson said: "We could see the water coming up from the beach, swamping the road into the hotel and then flowing like a tongue into a valley behind.

"Among our group on the hill, there were children on their own without their parents and families without a mum or dad. Some were calling out their relatives' names.

"One man who had been with his wife for 44 years, told us he had lost her. But we didn't know whether she had died or whether he just didn't know where she was.

"We recognised people from the hotel, but even with those people with us, added to those we knew had gone to hospital, there were still so many missing."

The couple and the rest of the group spent the night in the hotel's staff quarters and were able to salvage a mobile phone and their passports and text their families.

Mr Anderson said: "We couldn't get down to the flooded area of the hotel. All I saw were bloody footprints on the lobby floor."

The next day, the couple joined a group of Anglo-Italian tourists and went to Phuket town hall, where, like thousands of other tourists, they were given advice and accommodation, before catching a flight home.

Mr Anderson said: "I keep thinking: 'What if I hadn't gone to the beach to find Jo and we'd become separated?'"

He paid tribute to the kindness of the Thai people, who went out of their way to help tourists caught up in the disaster.

"We're still phoning friends and family letting them know we're okay and are trying to get back to some normality. We just hope people will do all they can to help the countries affected.

"People need to donate money and if people like us end up claiming for things like baggage, we hope they donate to the aid efforts. They need all the help they can get."