Irish woman: 'We were lucky'

An Irish airline flight attendant last night told of how she opened her hotel door on a small atoll in the Maldives last Sunday morning to find a wall of water coming towards her.

Ms Lindsay Grey, a flight attendant with an executive jet service in the Middle East, said she and the aircraft captain were staying on a small island about 40 minutes south of the capital, Male.

She said that during the night she had felt her bed shaking but as it was not severe she had gone back to sleep.

Ms Grey told RTÉ radio that when she opened her hotel room door the next day at around 9.30 a.m. she saw "thigh-deep" water approaching.

She said her hotel room was about 20 ft from the edge of the sea.

Ms Grey said that initially she thought the surge of water was a swell caused by the full moon. However, when the water continued to approach, she realised something was very wrong.

She said she ran back into her room but the door was wrenched from her hand and the water swept in.

Ms Grey said water was rolling onto the island from all sides and when it receded she could feel the undertow.

She said a nearby veranda where people were having breakfast was hit by a 7 ft-high wall of water.

Initially she was afraid, but she said her training for dealing with emergency situations came into play.

"We were lucky. What we experienced was nothing compared with the people in Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The loss of life is so distressing."