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'Run, I yelled. If you want to live, run'

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Tales of survival and terror emerge as hundreds of Hong Kong travellers return from the holiday island of Phuket

When Hong Kong tour guide Rano Lee Siu-pong saw the giant waves bearing down on Patong, he knew exactly what to do.

''Run,' I yelled. 'If you want to live, run',' the Wing On Travel guide recalled after arriving back in Hong Kong yesterday from the Thai resort island of Phuket.

'I saw two waves coming, one higher than the other, at least 5 or 6 metres high. I knew right away it was a tsunami. I had seen them on video.'

Mr Lee was helping his tour group into a bus outside the Grand Tropicana hotel on the Patong beachfront when he saw the waves. The hotel was one of the worst hit by the tsunami triggered by Sunday's huge earthquake off Indonesia.

'Hundreds were running on the streets ... the waves were chasing us,' he said. He shouted to his charges to run for the hills.

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