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Simon Parry

Revealed: the Thai beach where two babies died,  one man made the toughest decision of his life,  and 17 more were caught up in the tsunami

An island hideaway more than 100km  from the bustling resorts of Phuket has emerged as the scene of a heart-rending tsunami  tragedy for Hong Kong, with 18 people caught up in the disaster and two baby boys lost there.

Two weeks after the waves struck - with the overall Hong Kong quake toll standing at 14 dead and 58 missing - full details have come out of Phra Thong, a remote Thai island 15km long near the southern tip of Myanmar.

The island took the full force of the waves, which wiped out  its two small resorts, killing holidaymakers, homeowners and staff and causing mass deaths in its three fishing villages.

Hong Kong banking executive Arne Lindman's 15-month-old son Alexander was swept from the arms of a family friend in the Golden Buddha Beach resort on the island, where he owns a beach plot.

Alexander disappeared just kilometres from the beachfront bungalow in the neighbouring Krathom Moken resort where four-month-old Thian Debray, son of L'Oreal Hong Kong executive Nicholas Debray, was lost to the tsunami which claimed more than 150,000 lives in 13 Indian Ocean countries.

Nine members of Mr Debray's family were holidaying at the resort.  His grandmother also died.

Mr Lindman, a Swede, was washed into the sea with his six-year-old son Alfred and saved the boy's life by putting him on a makeshift raft.  His daughter Alice, five, was rescued by her Swedish nanny, while his wife Helen survived three hours in the water.

Another Golden Buddha Beach homeowner from Hong Kong, Lane Crawford menswear merchandising manager Andrew Keith, 35, was trapped for more than two minutes underwater in a mangrove swamp and had to smash his own kneecap to escape.

He also had to suffer the agony of letting go a pregnant Swedish woman who clung on to him as they both battled for life. The woman, Thisbee Ander, died.

Mr Keith was staying at the resort with partner Roddy Murray, 43, a Hong Kong architect. Two Hong Kong house guests of the couple were also caught in the tsunami.

One,  a 32-year-old whose family has requested  he  not be identified, died. The other,  36-year-old  computer graphics specialist Ken Liu, survived.

Mr Murray helped round up a huddle of survivors who spent a night  in the open on one of the island's few high spots.

Alexander Lindman disappeared when he was swept from the arms of a woman friend of the family who owns a home at the resort. Mr Keith said the woman was completely distraught at what had happened.

'She held on to Alex for as long as she could and then she couldn't hold him any longer,' he said.

Mr Lindman, Asia-Pacific chief executive of ABN Amro Asset Management, was still in Thailand last week as the search for his baby son's body continued. His wife, daughter and elder son flew back to Stockholm.

Thirteen  of the 160 people staying at Golden Buddha Beach died in the tsunami, along with scores more  in the three fishing villages dotting the edges of the mostly deserted  island.

Survivor Jason Beloso, a 32-year-old transport planner who was at the Golden Buddha Beach resort with his wife,  said from his home in Pacific Grove, California: 'Despite what happened, I would go back there in a heartbeat. The Thai people on the island did so much for the survivors.

'They could easily have just cared for themselves.  Incredibly, after seeing their homes destroyed and friends and family swept out to sea they were still helping us.'

An appeal fund has been set up to rebuild the devastated fishing communities around the island. The details are available at: www.goldenbuddhabeach.com.



Hong Kong's heartache in an island hideaway