'Paradise turned into hell'

2004-12-29 23:14

Johannesburg - The arrival terminal at the Johannesburg International Airport was filled with sadness as the survivors of the tsunami in Thailand met their families on Wednesday.

"It's a miracle that we survived and I survived by one second," said 14-year-old David Bernstein.

Bernstein, his mother, father and sister, all survived the tsunami while on holiday in Phuket.

Explaining how close he was to death, Bernstein said when he was escaping the floods, his shoe was sucked away by the rising water.

"This was paradise turned into in hell," he added.

Bernstein heaped praise on the Thai people for their generosity and love.

"They sheltered us, gave us food when they were their countries was facing a disaster," he said.

His mother Mandelle said she had woken at 04:00 on the morning of the disaster and had a feeling that something was wrong.

"I lay in bed feeling ice cold and I said to myself, 'I can't die yet, my children still need me'."

Fled to the mountains

Like most survivors, the Bernsteins sought refuge in the mountains.

Bernstein said: "Although we were higher, and able to watch the waves as they came, we still felt unsafe."

Mandelle shared the same sentiments, saying she felt sad that the Thai people had to stay there in a disaster, when the South Africans were able to go home.

While talking to Mandelle, another survivor in her twenties passed in a wheelchair. Mandelle said she and another South African had taken care of the woman, who had bruises on her face and legs.

'Gone forever'

Christine Malan, 46, a neighbour of Tsunamni victim Daphney Coetzee, who was from Witpoortjie on Johannesburg's West Rand, said she was happy that Daphney's husband and two sons had survived but sad about her death.

Ian Coetzee and his sons Dean, 12, and Michael, 9, arrived in South Africa with the body of their loved one on Wedneday.

"It's just unbelievable. We are still in disbelief," Malan said as she and her two sons waited for three hours to meet the Coetzee family at the airport.

Her son, 16-year-old Nicholas Malan, said: "It's unreal, we can't believe that Daphney is gone forever.

"It's sad to think that the boys will now grow without their mother at this age."

Cobus Malan, 14, said: "We never though it could happen to someone we know and we have been watching Sky News until late at night."

- SAPA