Hello Snowshoe, I have been checking on Thailand tsunami news. We have been to Phuket often and had gone past this hotel perhaps a few dozen times news.bbc.co.uk <<Hundreds dead in Thai resort ...>>
We generally visit the Krabi Rayavadee for its isolation but still reasonable distance to various marine attraction and Krabi province was badly hit bangkokpost.com .
We sometimes stay at the Amanpuri in Phuket, and that hotel apparently was able to warn its guests in time off the beach and suffered no casualties. The hotel itself is high on a hill above its beach newpaper.asia1.com.sg <<Take Australian Manfred Newstifter. When the wave hit, the 23-year-old marine captain trainee, known as 'Richie' to guests at the Amanpuri Resort Hotel, was the first to warn tourists to get off the beach.
Mr Fred Varnier, manager of the hotel, also raced down to the beach, frantically warning people that their lives were at risk.
Mr Anil Thadani, 58, chairman of Schroder Capital Partners, was staying at the hotel with his family.
'It was this young man (Richie) on the beach who saved everybody,' said Mr Thadani, who arrived in Singapore yesterday.
Richie couldn't be contacted. In the aftermath of the giant waves, with corpses and flotsam lining the streets near Patong, the young hero was busy working out the damage to the hotel.
Mr Bill O'Leary, 43, general manager of Amancruises, was extremely proud of Richie.
'We were very lucky,' he said.
'Lots of people may have died, if not for Richie. He's a very brave man.'>>
Chugs, Jay |
