'Vivekananda rock saved our lives': 2000 survivors of the tsunami

[Guest guest]

'Vivekanand Rock saved our lives'

TULIKA AGNIHOTRI

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2004 11:02:40 PM ]

 

NEW DELHI: What was till Sunday morning a picture postcard holiday,

turned into a nightmare for Atul Dighe and his family. The 33-year-

old

employee of an infrastructure finance company, was at the Vivekananda

Rock at Kanyakumari with his wife Meenal and their five-year-old

daughter, when Tsunami waves arrived in force at the tourist spot on

Sunday.

 

 

"At 9 am, we took a ferry to Vivekananda Rock, which is located in

the

middle of the sea. At about 10.30 am, the water started receding and

moved away from the shore. I could actually see the floor of the

sea,"

said Atul, a resident of Bandra in Mumbai speaking to TNN over

telephone.

 

What he saw next was even more terrifying. "There was a huge wave,

about 30-40 feet high coming towards us from the Arabian sea side.

There were about 2,000 people on the spot, including about 100

children. Everyone was screaming and running in different directions

and it was a stampede," recalled Meenal.

 

Had it not been for the statue, behind which they all stood, the

death

toll in India could have been higher by hundreds. "The huge wave hit

the statue and went back. After that the water kept receding and

increasing for another two hours, but thankfully there were no more

such waves," said Atul.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/972712.cms

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